


7 Guardians

by Noxmad



Category: Devil May Cry, DmC: Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts, Persona 4, RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Constantly Updating Tags, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hey Remember When This Was About Kingdom Hearts III?, High School, Hurt/Comfort, Investigation Team - Freeform, Kingdom Hearts Style Crossover, Multi, Multiple Crossovers, Persona 4 Arena - Freeform, Post-Devil May Cry 4, Post-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Post-Volume 2 (RWBY), Pre-Devil May Cry 5, SEES - Freeform, Why do I do this to myself, hey look more tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2020-06-29 13:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 22
Words: 107,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19830778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noxmad/pseuds/Noxmad
Summary: In preparation of facing off against the 13 Seekers of Darkness, Sora is dragged by the Keyblade to other worlds as he cannot control his Power of Awakening. Sora must now assemble a team of Guardians of Light from worlds much different from the places he had been before. Many dark worlds of violent monster hunters and evil people ready to cause harm. Can Sora rise up to these intense worlds? How will his existence impact the worlds around him?





	1. Saving Sanctuary

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: So where do I begin with this… So you know the core concept of Kingdom Hearts, right? Boy using the power of a weapon called the Keyblade goes from world to world fighting darkness? Well that is the same basis for the tale you are about to read. However before we get started I have decided that this is going to be a complicated enough story that an entire page of explanation will be necessary to make sure I fully communicate my thoughts and future plans for this story.
> 
> I LOVE Kingdom Hearts. The idea is so interesting but I felt like there was a certain aspect of it that could be explored further. Taking this story outside the confines of Disney and into worlds considerably darker, more complicated than any we have visited up to this point. So this tale takes place after Kingdom Hearts: DDD but before/during KH: III and basically completely compromises canon for the rest of the series. Sora finds that the Keyblade seems to have a mind of its own as it starts dragging him to worlds that need him to protect them from darkness and the forces threatening to throw them out of balance, including Xehanort.
> 
> Now to the other thing I feel I should bring up. I have a bit of strange relationship with crossover stories mostly in regards to the mainstream as Fan Fiction does seem to handle this better. Generally I find that crossovers do a couple of things that bug me a little. Use the same "worlds collide, creating or crash landing with another world which is a barely recognizable conglomeration of worlds with the amount of depth equal to that of the water level in a kiddie pool in Death Valley, which means that it has clearly dried up by this point just to bring this overly specific metaphor to a context where it has been over-explained" type of story that usually involves saving/finding the macguffin to save the *Insert Object* of Life. The other thing that generally happens is that the characters remain static. We come to see them and usually they start the story, do the story, and end the story all the same way. Which is why one of my focuses is to try to have the character remain recognizable but definitely develop and change due to the story.
> 
> Oh and I am taking liberties with the power levels. There will be an in-story reason to "justify" it, but this is me taking liberties to the more extreme that I can take them. Please don't take it to heart, I am just having fun over here writing a story that is dramatic first.
> 
> Two final things, I am already several chapters deep in this fic. So I am already many chapters ahead of the audience. And, this opening portion is going to include a guide to the Crossover as it evolves. Currently:
> 
> Kingdom Hearts X Devil May Cry (Chapters 1-5)

A flash of light across the sky was not the first sign of strange things occurring for the owner of Devil May Cry. The silvery white hair of the man reflected the light of the setting sun as he stood on top of his own store watching his world change before his very eyes. At first it was small, a different sign here, a changed building there. However, it seemed that the further along these changes got the braver their creator was as it pushed them in larger and faster than before. After the first few changes, Dante had looked into them but found no source or way to track down any other effects of the changes. These three lights falling from the sky however, that was something quite a bit different from anything else.

The man leapt from the top of his shop letting the wind catch his red trench coat as he fell. Landing lightly on his feet, he immediately made his way at a brisk but still relaxed pace in the direction of the three lights. Arriving shortly after their landing, he found something he was not expecting in the least bit. Floating on the top of ocean surface were three teenage kids. This was definitely where the lights landed. So who were the punks?

"Hey!" he called out to the teens in front of him. The female stirred. A redhead wearing some kind of pink slip of a dress with an attached hood. He could honestly say that he had seen stranger fashion choices. A particular blonde that he knew came to mind. "Are you kids alright?"

The redhead looked up at him and replied, "We're fine." She swam to her two friends and with light coercion, they also stirred from their unconscious states. The three teens were all shortly afterwards back on land and already immediately back in their own little world as the silver haired man looked at them strangely.

"Hey! You kids ever hear about respecting your elders and explaining why you are falling out of the sky?" The man asked them loudly. It was clear that he did not appreciate being ignored.

The girl looked back at the man and with a small smile replied, "Oh, sorry sir. My name is Kairi. These are Sora and Riku."

The one named Riku turned to the man and asked, "Would you introduce yourself?"

"Dante," replied the man with the silver hair. Dante looked at three kids in front of him as they seemed to be taking in their surroundings. They fell from the sky, they seem to be separate from the rest of us, and now they are looking around like they have never see a city like this one before. "Are you kids aliens? Cause if you're aliens then I have to present my idea for the next blockbuster hit. Demons vs Aliens: The Epic Battle of "Where The Hell Did You Come From?"

"Aliens?" Sora asked. "Like the little blue fuzzy guys?" Sora's description matching that of a certain little alien he knew from his past. "No, we're human." Dante was a strange person to run into on a new world. He clearly was not what one would expect and based on the few number of people around who did not stand out like he did, he was a very different type of person. There was something that Riku did not necessarily like about the man though he had no way to define why, yet.

Kairi looked over at Sora and commented, "You've never told me you met an alien!"

Riku and Dante regardered each other warily while Sora described Stitch to Kairi.

"Dante? You are not normal are you?" Riku asked holding onto direct eye contact.

Dante smirked and with small scoff he replied, "Well if this ain't the Alien calling the Demon inhuman. C'mon pretty boy, wanna dance?"

Riku simply shrugged and looked back to his companions. There was a quiet moment between the three of them. When Riku manifested his keyblade Way to the Dawn, a keyblade that looked like the combination of demonic and angelic wings, he performed a backside spin through the air but his keyblade was stopped mid-swing. Looking at the man, Dante had simply turned and it was now that the three teens could see that he had a nylon guitar bag on his back and the thing within it just absorbed the impact of Riku's attack.

This caused the man named Dante to break out into a grin as he reached back to the case and pulled down a zipper. Reaching into the bag he...

A scream tore through the air as Dante turned to face the direction it came from. Looking down the street he saw a type of demon that he was unfamiliar with. It looked almost like porcelain mannequin built around a clockwork frame covered in a black ooze. It was disgusting and exactly his type of work. Looking back at Riku he commented, "Hold this thought Pretty Boy. A new suitor has stepped on the dancefloor." Dante ran forward at the enemy. It lifted an arm to reveal a weapon hidden behind it. It swung at the fast approaching demon hunter. Dante reached back into his guitar case and a long blade came out with his hand. It was nearly the size of him yet he twirled it effortlessly as he launched himself forward with a fast thrust. The blade planted itself into the demon and the residual shockwave of the motion sent the demon flying off of his blade.

Kairi gasped at the destructive display. "He is fast," Sora said out loud. Riku simply grunted in response. The group heard another set of screams in the opposite direction. Looking over at the enemies, they saw similar enemies to the one that was just dispatched by Dante however they were distinctly red and blue, both wielding large bladed shields. They approached the innocent people menacingly and the three got ready to spring into action. Sora jumped up high and came down on the one in red. His silver bladed, gold cross guarded weapon called Kingdom Key flashed through the air but felt his weapon bounce off of its body. Sora felt himself also bounce back from force of his keyblade being redirected. The enemy having not even blocked and readied a swing. Riku and Kairi both dashed forward and in combination sent the blue enemy flying back down the road. Riku then leapt over between Sora and his enemy and deflected the incoming attack. Kairi's keyblade looked like a bouquet of vividly colorful flowers sprouting from the central blade and she attempted to open up an attack against the red enemy, however, much like Sora's attack she felt herself just bounce off of the enemy.

"So that wasn't just Sora slacking off then," Riku quipped as he fell back from this enemy.

Sora mock laughed at Riku's comment and then added, "Alright so what have we learned about this enemy?"

Kairi fell back to her two allies, "Well the blue one is weaker or the red one is somehow immune to our attacks."

"Too easy!"

The three dodged out of the way as Dante seemed to fall from the sky as his sword tore through the red enemy. He then dashed forward to impale the blue enemy, but his blade bounced off of it and, unlike the three kids, did not have anyone to block the weapon that followed. The bladed arm of the blue demon lashed forward and impaled the demon hunter.

"Dante?!" Kairi called out ready run up to him. As she approached, she saw him twitch.

"Serrated edges, what is with you demons and serrated edges. They don't kill me any more than the others. But they hurt like hell," Dante challenged the demon who had him impaled. Dante then raised his fist. Appearing on his hand was a beastial looking glove that glowed with a white light. Winding up, Dante let loose with a powerful punch that also seemed to glance off his enemy. However, the energy that caused him to bounce away, slid him off the blade in his chest. "Oh c'mon!" he called out as he flipped backwards and planted his feet back on the ground.

Kairi then took that moment to jump up and smash her keyblade into the back of the enemy's head and it crumbled forward finally defeated. "What were these things?" Kairi remarked as the enemy faded away.

"Demons. But none that I have ever seen myself. But that is to be expected with all the changes happening around here," Dante replied looking from teen to teen. "You kids seemed to be alright."

Sora let the keyblade disappear and he put his hands behind his head with a big smile. "We know how to handle ourselves. But how are you so strong?" Sora asked.

Dante looked out to the water with a thoughtful look on his face, "That is a bit of a long story. Pretty Boy, Porcupine, Kairi come to my shop. I think we have some things to talk about."

Dante started to walk and the teens lagged behind a little. Kairi was the first to follow him. Sora began to move shortly after and Riku reluctantly walked after them. The group walked in silence until Dante started to whistle tunelessly. Riku tried to observe him as much as possible. The man was very clearly seeped in some kind of darkness, but he was nothing like the other people like him. He was light hearted, but it never detracted from the fact that he carried himself with a purpose. The problem for Riku is that he has no idea what that purpose was and that is why he did not really like him.

"Are you… Where the hell is my shop?" Dante suddenly yelled standing outside a small residential apartment building. "Dude, I just finished paying for the damages the last time something happened to it!" Dante continued to yell some things about the situation which some of them don't bear repeating although they were accompanied by him kicking the bricks of the building that apparently replaced his shop, when the three keybearers felt a noticeable shift in the atmosphere around them.

"SPARDA!" a deep voice suddenly called out from somewhere in the area.

Dante simply planted his forehead against the building dejectedly, "Ok, who else wants me to clean up my father's mess?"

"Your father?" Sora asked.

A passerby ran up to the four of them wearing a blue hood. "You… you're not Dante," cried a young female voice. "Where is the real Dante?"

Dante remained strangely quiet after this outburst. "Who are you? What is going on?" Kairi asked the young woman.

"I'm looking for Dante, the son of the Dark Knight Sparda. Some bad demons are getting ready to come after him. I had heard that Dante had been seen headed this way, but this man doesn't match the image I was given at all," the woman explained.

Sora stepped forward and suggested, "Maybe you found the wrong Dante. Can we see the image?"

The young woman handed him a picture. In the picture there was a young man with short dark hair, a dirty smirk on his face and wife beater/coat combo. "Y'know… I think you might actually want this Dante to be the one you are looking for, this guy looks kinda underwhelming," Sora remarked. Dante walked over and looked at the photo and felt a laugh escape his lips.

"No kidding? What's this kid trying to pull? Destroy my reputation and my name looking like that," Dante remarked. "Look, Hoodie maybe you can answer a question for me, where is the Devil May Cry building?"

The young woman bristled at his nickname for her, "My name is Kat, Faker. And I have never heard of a place called Devil May Cry. Sounds like some kind of edgy clothes shop for teens though."

Dante looked at her and just threw up his hands turning away going off on some kind of tangent about people making accusations that they were guilty of today. Riku however walked over to Kat to try to confirm some things. "So you mean to tell me, that you are looking for a guy named Dante, whose father's name is Sparda, has people looking for them and you don't know this man here who meets all of those requirements?"

"Yes?" Kat replied curiously.

"So, Dante here is saying that his shop, which should be here is gone and that you don't know about his shop. Dante, has anything else changed around here?" Riku asked.

Dante nodded as he calmed down from the tail ends of his ongoing rant, "Yeah. Parts of the city had been changing for a while now."

Sora looked at Riku, "So are you thinking that their worlds are combining together?"

Riku nodded and replied, "That sounds like the case. I saw some things like that in the Realm of Darkness."

Kat looked at the two boys and hummed. "That seems really unlikely, but when you put it that way, I guess it does make sense, " she replied. "This is going to be tough to describe to Vergil though."

This caught Dante's attention. "What do you mean by that? Vergil is dead, I killed him," Dante remarked.

"Another difference between the two worlds then maybe?" Kairi suggested but Kat's outburst clearly showed that these two were not paying attention.

"Killed Vergil? Why would you ever lie about killing such a great person?"

"Great person? Homicidal sociopath is more like it. The fact that he and I have the same parents is where the similarities end."

"He's a better person than some pretender would ever be."

"Listened here Kitty. If there is anyone here who is saying that they are Vergil, Son of Sparta they are going to stab you in the back as soon as a grab for power comes up. He should be destroyed, I'll even do it myself."

"Vergil is the only one fighting back against Mundus's grip on the world!"

Sora, Kairi and Riku all felt very much like third, fourth, and fifth wheels so they began to converse among themselves. "So let's think, two worlds are colliding here. They are similar to each other but both now seem to in turmoil. One is about to be replaced and the one replacing it is apparently under some kind of tyrannical control. Ah this is complicated," Sora remarked after listing off the things they had learned about this world they had ended up on.

"Well. if our job is to help these worlds as we go to them… then we should probably figure out how to fix both the worlds before one destroys the other and then itself," Riku suggested.

Kairi nodded. "But how would we do that?" she asked. The change in the atmosphere occurred again and they were very much aware of the fact that Kat was suddenly very nervous.

"Oh no, they're coming. They are going to try to pull you into Limbo. If they get you there they'll try to kill you. Especially if they think you are Dante."

Dante shrugged. "Pretty sure they already know that," he replied honestly. He simply sighed and, as if on queue, he Immediately disappeared from sight for the three keybearers.

Kat then gasped, "Oh no, Dante! Can you hear me still? Good. Look you have to escape from those Demons. They are going to send the Hunter after you. You must find a way to escape from him. Meet me further in the city."

The three keyblade wielders looked at Kat for moment and she gestured for them to follow her. "Listen you three, I am going to need your help. Mundus has agents everywhere. If anyone tries to interrupt me while I get your Dante out of Limbo, we may not get too many more chances. Run interference for me and keep close."

"Yes ma'am," Sora replied seriously. The three teens followed Kat as she seemed to be very focused on something the rest of them could not see. However a short distance into the city, a building suddenly cracked above her. Sora rolled forward next to her and put up a Reflect spell. The rubble crumbled around them. "Let's keep going," he told her confidently.

Kat nodded and then she spoke aloud again, "Ok, Dante, you need to head south from here if possible. The Hunter will be coming from the North... Please just run, if we can avoid him I would prefer that we not have to deal with him and his bulletproof face... Stop complaining and get going!" Kat began to run after the man they three keybearers knew as Dante. More of the grey mannequin enemies from before showed up along the route.

Riku suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind one of the colorless enemies. "This better work!" he shouted as he swung his weapon and it seemed the colorless did not resist his attack at all like the red enemy from before. Kairi ran forward and threw her keyblade and it tore through several of the enemies and then returned to her. Sora smiled at the display because she was learning quickly. He stood back with Kat to act as more direct guardian for her.

"Good, your friends are making quick work of those Stygians," Kat said, her voice was clearly drenched in relief.

"Stygians? Is that the name of a type of Demon?" Sora asked her. Kat nodded. "Have you ever had any difficulty with creatures called Heartless or maybe Nobodies?"

Kat shook her head as she kept her gaze focused on something Sora could not see. "Not that I could tell you off hand. Are those some kind of demons?" Kat replied.

"No, I don't think so," Sora remarked with a thoughtful tone. "There is something about the way that Demons feel that is both in a way darker but shallower if that makes sense. Like there is more evil in demons, but they are not the all consuming darkness of the Heartless, or the complete hollow feeling of Nobodies."

Kat looked at him for a moment, "What do you mean by evil?"

Sora looked at her to hopefully gauge her tone better but her face was expressionless. Why are other people so good at that? "Well, I think that there are forces that define us all in certain ways. Like Riku. He is very closely tied to the darkness because of how long he has lived within it. Kairi, pure light. Demons don't really seem to fall on that same type of scaling. Like the Nobodies. I think that if the term evil could be used to describe anything about them, it just the energy they give off. Less about who they are y'know?"

Kat looked at him for moment and then gave a small cute smile. "While you probably could have said it better, I get what you mean. I feel the same about Vergil when I am near him. But I have always been attuned to the other forces in the world. But Vergil's intentions as he has made them known to me, have always seemed pure."

Riku and Kairi finally dispatched the enemies and made their way back to Sora and Kat. "Alright, where to next boss?" Sora asked her. Kat began moving and the three teens followed. Sora would have to share the details of the conversation he just had with Riku and Kairi, seemed like it could be useful.

"Oh no, Dante! The Hunter is here. Just survive for a couple of minutes I will reveal his weak spot," Kat called out. "You three, I need you to help me. The Hunter is going to draw more demons to our location. Cover me."

"Kairi you stay by her side, Sora and I will try to take down as many of the enemies before they get to you two. Kat do your thing," Riku instructed. Sora nodded at him the two of them took places on opposite sides of the two women. While Sora recognized the Stygian enemies that began to filter into the area, there seemed to be some kind of strange sandy looking demon wielding a scythe scattered among their ranks.

"Demon's like that don't exist, what do you mean you recognize those scythe wielders?" Kat suddenly asked out loud. Kairi looked at her as she was speaking to Dante while pulling out ingredients from her bag and putting them into a bottle.

Riku ran forward and with his keyblade in hand jumped head long into the hordes of demons approaching. Sora met the demons half way and the two fights were well on their way.

Kat swore under her breath. "I don't have my lighter to heat this up."

Kairi turned to her and said, "How hot do you need it?"

"Not much," Kat replied. "Just enough to activate the wax in the mixture."

Kairi nodded. "Set it down and step back," Kairi told her. Kat did she was told and Kairi pointed her weapon at the bottle. A flame sprouted from the end and briefly engulfed the bottle. "There you go."

Kat looked surprised. "Thanks," she replied slightly stunned. "Calm down Dante, I am almost done!" She suddenly was yelling at the unseen man. After a couple more moments, a demon flew over the head of the two women and Kairi looked to see where it came from. On top of a building, there was another white haired man. He wore a dark coat with a sleeve pulled back and glowing, blue, demonic arm revealed.

"Who is that?" Kairi asked aloud. Kat finally finished her bottle and as she readied to throw it she looked up and saw the man on the roof.

"Nero? Your nephew? Vergil's kid?" Kat started saying to Dante again. "Ok, I'll throw it then! Sheesh." Kat let loose the bottle and it broke in midair as if it had hit something. "There you go, you big whining child."

The man named Nero leapt down from the roof and took in the chaos. His blue arm lashed out and a ghostly visage of the arm flashed to life. It grabbed a nearby Stygian demon shattered it in a massive blast of mechanical parts.

"Man, this city really has changed. Dante was not lying about this place transforming. Two years does not explain this." Another Stygian approached him and Nero pulled a double barrelled revolver from the inside of his coat and a single shot bounced the enemy in the other direction. The number of demons very quickly went down as Dante reappeared from the thin air.

"How low can it get? Limbo… are you kidding me?" Dante asked upon reappearing. "Thanks for the assist there, Kitty."

"Kat," both Kat and Kairi replied automatically.

Sora and Riku both reconviened with the group and looked at the newcomer.

"Nero, good to see you have not disappeared with my business. How ya doin' kid?" Dante asked his nephew.

Nero shrugged, "Demons show up, I kill them. Human are afraid of me. So the usual. Who are the kids?"

"I'm Kairi. This is Sora and this is Riku, Oh, and this is Kat," Kari introduced the group to him.

"I started a daycare service for teenagers," Dante remarked after their introduction.

Nero simply scoffed. "Apparently. So what is the next plan of action?"

"I have to report back to Vergil," Kat commented. "Since you are all involved now, I should take you with. Can I trust you to not attack my version of Vergil so he can better explain things to you?"

Dante sighed and replied, "Sure, I'll hear him out. Then I'll run him through. Let's go talk to my big brother."

"So, Nero… would that make Vergil your father?" Sora asked.

Nero shrugged and replied, "I guess. But even if he did make me, he was a terrible father."

Riku added, "Sounds like he was also a horrible brother. Let's hope Kat's Vergil is a better man."


	2. The Tale of Two Katanas

Dante sat on a motorbike as he waited for the others to figure out how they were going to ride to their destination. It was ultimately decided as Kat was the owner of the car, she would drive with Nero, Sora, and Riku. Kairi would ride on the motorcycle with Dante. The three guys got into the car and Kat started up the engine. Kairi hesitated as she approached the back of the bike. Dante looked at her and saw the way she was looking at the bike.

"Have you ever ridden a motorcycle?" Dante asked her with a raised eyebrow. Kairi shook her head nervously. Dante held out his hand and she took it gingerly. "Ok, go ahead and throw your left leg up and over." He held her hand as she got herself over the bike. As she got herself used to sitting on the seat, he let go of her hand. "Ok, now wrap your arms around my waist and hold tight." She tried to reach forward but it was too far to reach from her position. Dante gave a small chuckle as he grabbed her arms and pulled her forward and got her hands to touch in front home. Kairi gasped as she was basically laying against his back but otherwise stayed put as her hands grabbed each other. "Well you have good self-preservation instincts," Dante commented with smirk. With that he put the bike in gear and followed Kat.

In Kat's car, Nero sat in the front tapping his leg with his demonic arm. As much as he would have loved to leave his arm out the window, it probably was best not to upset any fellow motorists. Sora and Riku sat in the back. Riku kept his eyes glued on Dante and Kairi on the motorcycle out the rear window. Sora on the other hand was a ball of energy looking at as many things as he could see from his spot behind Nero.

"So," Nero started casually. He was not nearly at good at impromptu conversation as Dante was capable of being. He decided to cut straight to the chase. "How the hell do three teenagers with magic keys end up working alongside Dante?"

Sora replied, "I think it would be more accurate to say we worked alongside Kat. It just turns out that our mission was saving Dante. How do you know Dante? From what I can piece together, your guys' Vergil doesn't feel like the family reunion type."

Nero scoffed. "Understatement of the century and thensome. Dante ended up in my hometown on a mission. At first I thought he was some kind of assassin sent to kill the leader of our Order. Turns out, the Order was a bunch of half-demon, religious zealots and Dante was doing the world a favor. But I did not know that at the time and my job was to deal with problems like him. First time we met, I stabbed him with his own sword and skewered him to a statue of his own father."

Kat looked over the man sitting next to her with a look that could only be described as confused and surprised. "You are exaggerating about that right?" she asked.

"I still lost the fight," Nero commented in response. Kat felt her jaw go slack.

Riku without turning from his target asked, "So what exactly did your Order worship?"

"The Legendary Dark Knight Sparda. Two thousand years ago, the demonic forces led by a demon called Mundus were waging war on the realm of humans. It was a massacre. However, Sparda awoke to justice and turned against his own kind to fight back their forces. He sealed the demons back into hell but this ended up including himself. The Order honored him as the hero of humanity and this ended up translating into them wanting to become like him in this regard," Nero explained.

Kat hummed. When Nero looked at her she shrugged and replied, "That is a completely different story than the one Vergil told me. Or at least my Vergil. Sparda was a talented warrior and a lieutenant for the forces of hell when it was being overtaken by Mundus. Then he fell in love with an Angel named Eva. They brought into this world the two sons, Dante and Vergil who are Nephilim."

After a small pause, Nero burst out laughing. "Really? You mean, dear ol' dad in this world is a demon/angel baby? That is so freaking genetically edgey." Kat gave Nero another look before Nero looked back at Sora. "So what's the story of you guys then? How did you all end up working with- uh, Kat here."

Sora thought for a moment before commenting, "Well that is a long story. To tell this story in a somewhat manageable way, I am gonna have to leave a lot of stuff out. The weapons we wield are called keyblades. They are weapons that are basically tasked with fighting darkness. So when my keyblade started to drag us around, we ended up here."

Kat looked in the rearview mirror and remarked, "You make it sound like the weapon has a mind of it own."

Riku, while still watching the motorcycle behind them added a comment, "Not really a mind of its own. It is just very willful."

After a silent pause, Sora suddenly asked, "So how are Dante and Vergil his sons if this happened over thousands of years ago? Except for the hair, Dante doesn't look any older than like 30, right?"

"Well presumably, if what Dante told me is true, Sparda got out again. Pure-blooded demons don't really have a maximum age. It could be possible that Sparda is still somewhere out there, but he has been gone long enough for Dante's mother to be killed by the demons he betrayed and for his sons to grow up," Nero replied somewhat bitterly. "Something tells me the men in this family aren't exactly the best people to be affiliated with."

"Oh crap. Everyone hang on, we have demons ahead," Kat suddenly called. Sora looked over Nero's shoulder and saw what Kat was referring to ahead. Small cupid looking entities swooped through the air as three large goat-man creatures swung away at passing cars.

Nero opened the car door and start to climb onto the hood. "Keep driving Kat. I'll clear us a route!" he called back into the car. His arm began to take on a bright glow as he looked like he was winding up for a punch. The glow manifested in the giant arm and as Nero swung his arm, the ghostly arm swung as well. The fist smashed through the goat demons sending them flying off to the side. This got the attention of the flying enemies and Nero took out his gun and began firing away.

Sora finally found a way to roll down his window and stuck his arm out the window and summoned his keyblade into hand. Pointing it at nearby demons he let loose a flurry of ice, freezing them and knocking them out of the sky. Riku looked back and saw Dante swooping in and out of lanes and dodging attacks. He was keeping Kairi perfectly safe.

Riku opened his door and seemed to vanish from the back seat and appeared on the back of the car. A dark aura over took his right hand as he fired a barrage of fireballs at the flying demons. The demons were small and they fell easily. Riku appeared back inside the car with the demons taken care of at the time. Nero crawled back into the car with a satisfied sigh.

* * *

Back on the bike, Dante let himself relax with the successful excursion through the demons behind him, he turned to look at Kairi whose grip was particularly tight. She had her face buried in his back. "Can I ask you something?"

Kairi relaxed slightly and hummed an affirmative response.

"You're less experienced than Pretty Boy and the Porcupine right?"

Kairi finally removed her face from his back and asked, "Is it that obvious?"

"Just a little swerving on a motorcycle and you are burying your face into my jacket. Like it's a nice jacket, but I get the feeling that that wasn't the point," Dante joked back to her which did get a bit of a giggle. "I'll try to keep it smoother sailing from here on, kid."

"Thank you," Kairi replied gratefully. "Can I ask you something?" With a grunt, Dante gave her the go ahead. "Why are you being nice to me and using my name, but calling Sora and Riku by strange nicknames?"

Dante got a laugh out of this. "I thought you were gonna ask something serious, Kairi," he replied with chuckle still on his voice. "To be honest, I have really rotten luck with women. The last thing I need to do is antagonize them. I already messed up with Kat. Gotta salvage things with you."

"Bad luck?"

"Y'know destroying my property, stabbing me, shooting me, etc."

"O-oh. Well you have nothing to worry from me."

"My turn?" Dante asked. Kairi also hummed a response. "You're not some kind of angel are you?"

Kairi gasped and blushed. "N-no. Why?" she asked.

Dante paused a moment and replied finally, "You exude a very bright presence. Not really an aura because you can't really see it. It is like something that you can only really feel. It is warm and kind. The kind of thing I would expect from someone who is an angel. Any idea?"

"It's a little complicated. But I am something known as a 'Princess of Heart.' I am a being who has no darkness within me. It made me particularly targeted when I was younger," Kairi explained to him. "I was moved to the islands where I met Riku and Sora. They accepted me like one of their own. But eventually the forces that chased me followed me there. They saved me when those forces took me from my new home. They never even knew," she continued.

"Those two?" Dante asked. Kairi hummed in affirmation. "You guys are serious? The whole 'traveling the worlds' schtick is real? Makes me wonder what's out there."

The two fell quiet and soon after they followed Kat through a gate towards a mansion on a hill overlooking the coast. Kat parked the car and Dante pulled up next to her. Standing out in front of the door was a man in a black and blue two-toned jacket and pinstripe suit pants. A katana in a simple and elegant sheath at the man's side. The only reason you would have to think that he was related to Dante or Nero would be the silvery-white hair.

"Kat, who is this? Did you find my brother?" The man asked. When she looked away ashamed, it became all too evident that this was the Vergil that had been looking for the other Dante. This was the other version of Nero's father.

"Well hey there, big… little brother. Never thought I would see you in any form again. Don't you recognize a Son of Sparda when you see one?" Dante asked as he stepped forward. Vergil seemed to be taken aback by Dante's presence. He took a physical step back from Dante and reached for his blade. Dante immediately pulled from his back a black handgun. "I am going to warn you once, Vergil. I know what Yamato is capable of. So if you want to leave this meeting with your body intact..."

"Ok, I understand. So may I ask how you are my brother?" Vergil asked lowering his hand from the blade.

Sora stepped forward and explained, "Well, you are from two different versions of the same world. However, your world Vergil, seems to be replacing this Dante's world. Can you think of anything that might explain why?"

Vergil looked at the other four who came with this man claiming to be his brother. His vision fell on Nero. "Are you supposed to be me in his world?"

"No, not quite. The other you is my deadbeat dad," Nero responded.

Vergil's vision narrowed on him, "I will have you know that I don't believe anything either of you are saying. If you are done making a mockery of me and my family…"

"Listen here, Daddy dearest, you don't get to be holier-than-thou with me you son of a-"

Dante suddenly shot his gun directly into the air. "Hey! Not in front of the daycare kids," he commanded the two. "And you, where do you think that I got all my information?"

"Vergil," Kat finally said out loud. "The Hunter recognized him as being of the Sparda bloodline. It pulled him into Limbo. I know it is hard to believe, but this guy is just as much Dante as you are Vergil."

Vergil looked at her for a moment as if trying to gauge her honesty. Kairi stepped forward and said, "You have to believe her Vergil. You know she wouldn't have brought him, let alone us, if she thought we meant you harm." Vergil's gaze softened.

"Just tell me one thing then," Vergil started. "How do you know about Yamato?"

Nero's arm began to glow and suddenly appearing in it was a very similar katana. A dark blue wooden sheath adorned with a gold ribbon. The gold crossguard accentuated by a white wrap. "Because my grand-pop in our world made one, too," Nero replied.

Vergil nodded and turned back towards the mansion. "Well this isn't what I was expecting. But perhaps we can come to an arrangement. I need help taking down Mundus. If anyone is at the root of this problem, it would be him."

The group proceeded to walk into the mansion. Dante spun his gun as he looked around. "You mean to tell me you and the other me had a mansion like this? Man, wish my dad was this upperclass," Dante commented ending with a whistle.

"Does any version of you take things seriously?" Vergil asked somewhat bitterly.

Nero replied, "Only when the situation requires it."

"Really?" Vergil asked incredulously.

Riku sighed as it looked like this sibling rivalry transcended existence. Kairi walked in the back with Kat who still looked very guilty for her actions. Sora was just excited to see new things like normal. Dante however looked like he had something he needed to say and Riku could not take it anymore.

"Ok, could you two just sit down and talk?" He suddenly said louder than he meant to say it. "Clearly you two see a lot of your actual sibling in each other. So before you make this worse, just sit down get your hands off your weapons and just talk." The room was tense for a moment after this until Vergil finally nodded.

"Let's go to what's left of the dining room. We can talk there," Vergil replied calmly. The whole group filed into a large room that had a dust covered table surrounded by a variety of mismatched or damaged chairs. Vergil took his place at one of the table and Dante decided to take his at the other. Kat stayed near the door. Nero joined the other two white haired people in the room at the table. Riku sat down at one of the remaining chairs. Kairi stood next to him and Sora took a place next to Kat as he could see she was clearly bothered by what was happening. Which made sense with the palpable tension in the air.

Dante finally spoke, "Can I ask you something? Like brutal honesty here?"

Vergil answered, "I will reserve the right to not answer. But you can ask whatever you want."

"Smartass," Dante commented with a small smirk making its way to his lips. "What is with you Vergils? Is there something about us Dantes that makes you want to avoid interacting with us? Why are you separated from your Dante?"

Vergil seemed to get defensive as he replied rather angrily, "I don't know what you mean. My brother and I had a fantastic relationship growing up."

"Then why are you separated?" Dante challenged.

"Because the forces of Hell found us. My brother and I are Nephilim. We are considered abominations by both the world above and the world below, " Vergil replied intensely. "Our father turned his back on demon kind and fell in love with our mother Eva an Angel. When the forces of Hell found our family here, they sent our father back to Hell to be tortured for the rest of time. Our mother was killed in front of us. My father erased our memories to protect us from the Hunters who chased after our family. I only began to remember in the last few years. So, it is then that I find out that the Demon King Mundus is ruling the world and is getting away with enslaving humanity. Someone has to stop his rule but I was only recently able to locate my brother." The explanation weighed heavily on all who heard it. Vergil then followed up with a question. "Why did you expect that I was somehow guilty of misdeeds towards my own brother?"

Dante leaned back and put his feet up on the table. After a moment he answered, "You know, that story that you told me is very different from my own but I can say that certain aspects of it certainly do resonate with me. If you must know why I can't trust your being innocent of misdeeds, it is because my version of you isn't. When my father sealed the gates of Hell to protect humanity he left behind my mother Eva, a human and two half-breed children. Well Mundus's forces caught wind of this and the weaker demons that could be pushed into the human world found us and killed my mother in front of me. At the same time Vergil disappeared. Years later I would see him again once we had both grown up for the most part. He decided he needed to take our fathers power at any cost so that he would never lose anything important again. Even it that meant the whole world was payment. He gave up his humanity. So excuse me if I want anyone who resembles him to kiss the end of my gun while I pull the trigger."

Vergil regarded the other version of his brother for a long moment. "You really are a Dante, aren't you?" he commented quietly.

A voice suddenly asked from the shadows. "You are right. He truly is Dante."

Everyone in the room was suddenly on high alert as a man in a blue coat with slicked back hair entered through the far door. Dante immediately pulled both his guns from his holsters and pointed them at the newcomer. "Everyone but Nero. Get out of here," Dante commanded not letting the brother he knew out of his sights.

"You always did resort to those barbaric tools didn't you? Though it looks like the years are catching up to you little brother," a younger looking Vergil said snidely.

The other Vergil looked at the newcomer. "Now I can see why you want to kill me," he offered as he stepped forward. "Listen, Vergil. I am sure we can come to a sensible arrangement if you'd just be willing to stand down."

"You would be wise to focus on yourself. How many people do you think will make it out of this building alive before one of you three is able to stop me?" The young Vergil threatened as he was engulfed by light. Left in the wake of that light were a set of gauntlets and boots that shone from his arms and legs.

"You were the one who stole those?" Dante asked. The room became tense. Suddenly demons crashed through the roof and riding the shoulders of patchwork demons were small shadowy knights with a heart shaped insignia on their chest.

"Heartless?" Sora called out which got Riku and Kairi's attention. Kairi grabbed Kat's arm and began to pull her from the room. Riku and Sora planted themselves in front of the doorway as the room began to get somewhat crowded. Vergil disappeared and appeared behind the other Vergil and swung his fist. However, Dante also disappeared and his two guns were crossed in front and absorbing the attack. A sudden burst of bullets and Dante forced Vergil back and then leapt into a double foot kick knocking him back further. Dark blades began to float around the brawling Vergil. As a dark blade flew forward at Dante but it was intercepted by a similar blade of a different design. The formal Vergil laid his hand on his katana.

The demons and Heartless seemed to swarm the room and Nero decided he needed to go to work on these enemies. The phantom hand lashed out and smashed the Heartless and Demon approaching him. He then took his blade the Red Queen and the engine in the blade roared to life. Fire whipped around Nero as he lashed out at the enemies around him with stylish abandon. Sora and Riku immediately felt the pressure these forces were all exerting. If they got involved, they would need to be careful on how they did it. It was in a moment of clarity that Riku saw Vergil suddenly surge towards him and Sora. Riku produced a dark shield in front of both and Vergil's foot clashed against the force.

"Impressive," Vergil commented. "What is your name?"

Riku looked at the man on the other side of his shield and with a completely straight face answered, "Call me Pretty Boy." Sora suddenly swung around the shield in a near untrackable crescent shape, his keyblade in hand. Swinging his weapon behind Vergil, the first successful attack against Vergil landed. The shield in front of Riku disappeared his extended hand took on a dark flame and launched a series of fireballs that landed on the currently stunned Vergil.

"I see," Vergil said with a slight look of irritation. He jumped up and dodged Sora and Riku's attempted follow-up. Vergil kicked off the wall above them and then seemed to vanish in mid-air just to reappear behind a distracted Nero. However, Dante had equipped himself with a different set of gauntlets and a mask that looks like a layering of chitkin scales over a neon gradient of reds and violets. His left arm began to radiate energy as Dante leapt forward at Vergil who had just grabbed onto Nero's demon arm. Dante's fist smashed into Vergil's face and sent him flying.

"This isn't over, Dante! I will take the power that is rightfully mine!" Vergil shouted after sliding to a stop. He jumped up to his feet and then vanished again and at that point, the demons and Heartless began to dwindle.

The remaining Vergil spoke after a second, "Alright, so I have questions."

Kat and Kairi returned to the room. Kat looked visually shook. "What were those things?" Kat finally asked.

Sora replied, "Those things are the reason that we are here. I think it may be time that we explain what is going on."

Riku stood close to Kairi as the whole room focused on the three teens.

"So, has anyone here heard of something known as Kingdom Hearts?" Sora asked with a faux sense of hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hey! Updates on this story will be played pretty fast!
> 
> I mentioned in a comment that this story was also over on the FF website. So I will likely be double or triple posting the existing chapters per week, until this site is caught up to other one! Anyway, please enjoy!
> 
> ~Nox


	3. The Key to the City

"So, let me get this straight," Dante said as he started nutshelling. "You really don't have any more comfortable seats to listen to a long drawn out story?"

The dapper Vergil heaved a sigh. "This house has been abandoned for more than half my life, Dante. Did you honestly expect it to be anything else?"

Sora scratched the back of his head while he waited for the two of them to calm down. Riku found himself sitting on a hearth in front of a rather fancy looking fireplace. Above him was a ruined picture of a man named Sparda. Kairi stood between her two friends as the people of two different versions of a world readied themselves to learn about these three world travelers.

"How do we begin?" Sora asked Riku. Riku shrugged. Sora looked at Kairi who just shook her head. "Alright. So I guess we should start with this." He summoned the keyblade to hand it was in the form of the Kingdom Key. "This is the Keyblade. A weapon that is used for fighting against the darkness and keeping balance between the Realms of Light and Darkness."

"Balance?" Nero asked.

"Why not eliminate it? From what Sora mentioned to me earlier, the darkness is all consuming," Kat asked.

Riku decided to answer this question himself. "Balance is the key. Light and Darkness cannot exist without the other. The reason we bring balance with the weapon is because the more darkness you get rid of the brighter light shines. However, the brighter light shines, the darker the shadows becomes. The opposite is also true, to prevent the worlds from facing too much of either, we hold the balance. It was what we were taught to believe from one of our teachers, his Majesty."

"Yeah, what he said," Sora added. "Anyway, the Heartless are entities of pure darkness. They hunt after the darkness in the hearts of other things. People, Animals, Worlds. Everything with a heart has darkness and so they will chase after it. Strong enough entities leave behind empty shells called Nobodies. They are made of the nothing left behind from the absence of both the darkness and the light taken when the heart is gone."

"Excuse me," Vergil said before Sora could go on. "Did you say worlds have hearts?"

"Yes," Sora replied. "Every world has a heart. It is the core of the world. Losing it to darkness will cause the world to tear apart, collapse and disappear. That is where our journey begins as we lost our world to darkness a long time ago. This is also where the Keyblade comes in. This weapon is a key that can open or close any lock. To lock the heart of is to protect it from the darkness that threatens to consume it. We call it the Keyhole."

The look on Kat's face seemed to say it all. However, it would be Nero who would put it into words, "So you being here is not an accident. Our worlds are in danger of being consumed by darkness?"

Kairi nodded. Sora then continued, "That does just about sum it up. However, the combining of your worlds is something different than the normal stuff we deal with in this job. On top of which there are bad guys working for a man named Xehanort running around and making a mess across the worlds we go to doing everything they can to make them fall to darkness. But, if it makes you feel any better, we are pretty good at our job."

"Definitely a good track record," Kairi agreed with a smile.

Dante stroked his chin thoughtfully then asked, "So then what is Kingdom Hearts? You mentioned it earlier at the beginning before the seating arrangement issues."

"The heart of all worlds," Riku replied. "Or at least that is what it is from what we can tell."

"So how does one go about finding the Keyhole?" Vergil asked.

Sora looked a little disappointed at this time. "That is the tricky part. Most Keyholes we find by circumstance or by following the bad guys. It seems weird when you put it like that, but you have to understand that the Keyholes are usually found in important or hidden places meaning people are already looking for it. Like I once found one in the mouth of a living door. While you wrap your heads around that one, does anyone have any ideas?"

Vergil stood up and hesitantly replied, "I may have an idea where it could possibly be located. It may also be the source of our problems involved in the dictatorship happening here. In fact this was part of why I was looking for Dante. Mundus has access to the Hell Gate, it directly feeds his energy from the world below. It would not surprise me if both existed in or near the same place."

"I guess it is a good a plan as any," Nero commented. "How do we get started?"

Kat seemed to regain her composure as she began to explain, "We need to knock away Mundus's support beams. The "Virility" drink, his grip on the media, and his ear on the streets. Taking these things away from him would allow us the openings we need not only to free humanity from his grip, but to infiltrate his base of operation and take out his Hell Gate and leave him vulnerable."

"In order to attack any of them however," Vergil said as he started to take over the conversation, "one would need to be in Limbo. The succubus who produces the secret ingredient of 'Virility' is hidden underneath the production factory. Bob Barbas is hidden in the news media tower. Finally, we need to get his ear on the street which we believe to be the owner of a local club."

"So we split up and take down these resources. Take down Mundus and we're back home in time for the evening prayer and dinner," Nero says confidently. "I figure that if we are going to send anybody anywhere we should figure out how to best use our resources."

Vergil nodded and replied, "Indeed. However, I am currently without the capacity to assist in order to keep my identity as secret as possible from our enemy."

Kairi then piped up and added, "We also have to consider the fact that there are some enemies out there who have unique qualities when it comes to how well they can be damaged. We could hurt the blue ones just fine ourselves, but Dante would bounce off of them. The opposite was true with the red enemies. We have to make sure that we send ourselves out in a way that will allow us to actually hurt our enemy, right?"

Kat replied, "That would mean that Dante or Nero must be accompanied by at least one of the three key bearers. I think we should probably keep Kairi with Sora and then send the two of them with Dante. Riku and Nero should be fully equipped to make a good enough team together."

"I can work with that," Dante replied confidently. "Send us after the succubus. Those two will take on the news man. We then reconvene on the Night Club, because you know Mundus is going to protect his information source for as long as possible." Kairi and Sora both moved over toward him and Nero made his way next to Riku.

"You keep an eye on her Sora," Riku told his best friend. "Nero and I will make quick work of this newscaster."

"We'll be done before you know," Sora replied. The two of them then knocked the back of their hands together something they had picked up from Hayner in Twilight Town and incorporated into a Limit Attack they used to perform. Dante looked at Nero with a smirk and drew his blade. He placed the tip on the ground and then made a motion like he was revving a motorcycle, the look on his face was nothing short of mischievous. Nero however did not look so amused and led Riku out the door.

"We're taking the motorcycle," Nero called back as they left.

Dante put the sword back on his back and looked at Kat. "Mind if we borrow the car?" he asked.

Kat sighed and replied, "We have to head back into the city so I'll drive."

The five people remaining headed out the door. Suddenly, Kat felt herself become light headed and she fell towards the door frame. Visions of a world unfamiliar to her began to cloud her mind. She was not seeing Limbo like she normally could. No this other world was vastly darker. She looked around scared of the things she was seeing as the people around her ceased to be there. The darkness around her was deep and oppressive. Looking around she saw a woman with blue shoulder length hair. Her arms were dressed in detached and tied sleeves. A tight black and blue bodysuit under a black corset, thigh high black socks, metal boots and a half skirt. Kat moved towards her.

"Who's there?" the woman asked turning around summoning what looked like a steel grey Keyblade. She looked at the ethereal form of Kat and looked surprised. "Where did you come from? You need to leave this place."

Kat could feel this woman's concern was genuine. However, when she tried to reply no sound came out. The blue haired woman reached out to her and said, "My name is Aqua. Are you lost here, too?"

"Aqua," Kat finally managed to reply. Kat found herself reaching out to this woman and her image melted into the redheaded Kairi who watched Kat's eyes change back to their normal hue from a bright yellow.

"Kat, are you ok? You left us for a moment," Kairi said to her with a look of concern. "And why did you call me Aqua?"

Vergil stepped forward and commented, "You looked scared, Kat. I haven't seen you scared of Limbo in a long time. What did you see?"

Kat shook her head. "I don't think it was Limbo. It was a world full of darkness. There was a woman there named Aqua. Probably not too much older than Sora and Kairi. She told me I needed to leave that place."

"Aqua?" Sora exclaimed. "She is a keyblade master. In fact, she is one of the people Master Yen Sid wanted us to go and find!" He seemed to bounce back and forth with energy and then remembered himself. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Dante gestured and called out, "Well let's get going. We have work to do. We'll figure out this Aqua business later."

* * *

Dante, Sora, and Kairi finished the trek to the Virility Factory alongside Kat. Along the way, Sora began striking up conversation with Kat. "So how do you know Vergil?"

"He saved my life. I have always been more attuned with the other world even as a child. When I was young they began to give me medicine that was supposed to make it go away, but all it did was leave me weak. My father used to abuse me while I was under the effects and to escape from the pain during his episodes, I would have out of body experiences in Limbo. Vergil found me there, he taught me what was happening to me back then and more importantly, he helped me escape," Kat explained.

Dante hummed in thought before commenting, "So then, I take it he taught you the things that you know now?"

Kat nodded. Kairi smiled at her, "I am glad he found you. It sounds horrible what you were going through."

"So am I, maybe now you can see why I found it so hard to believe that any version of him could be a bad guy. Here we are," Kat said and they all looked at the factory building. The green Virility sign on the front taunted them.

Dante led the group into the building. "So how do we force our way into Limbo?" Dante asked as they stood on an escalator.

"I can make a portal for you three. I'll guide you as far as I can, after that you are on your own. Their succubus is deep under the factory so every opportunity to go down you get, you have to take it," Kat explained.

"Seems simple enough," Kairi replied nervously. The four of them made their way back into a larger warehouse area. Kat reached into her bag and pulled from it a stencil with a design that looked ritualistic. She laid it on the ground and took a spray can from her bag. Quickly she had three of the symbols on the ground. Dante took a step onto one of them and the two teens followed suit. The world quickly began to melt away and they found themselves enshrouded in a green fog. The world looked more or less the same, until the ground seemed to rip open and the shelves and boxes around them seemed to arrange themselves into a long paths and platforms.

Dante walked forward and looked down into the abyss below them. "Well, this place sure is inviting. Let's get going," he commented and then jumped forward. The three proceeded to hop from location to location going further and deeper into the warehouse. Soon though, they found themselves stuck. "Strange, there does not seem to be a way to get across this spot. At least, I know I can't make that jump in these conditions."

Sora called his Keyblade to hand. "Let me try something here," he said looking around. Dante stepped off to the side with a shrug. Sora pointed the keyblade towards a platform and it began to shine. "Magnet!" he called out and a field of energy appeared between the group and a nearby box. The box was pulled into place and the field disappeared. "There we go," Sora said cheerfully as he jumped forward. Kairi followed immediately after.

"Hold up! Quick question," Dante suddenly called and the two teens turned to face him. "That was magic. That was not just a supernatural ability like Vergil's swords, that was straight up magic. How do you kids know magic?"

Sora looked back at Dante, "Well, we were taught it. Why?"

Dante gave long look at the two of them before saying out loud, "Magic is not a common thing around here. Which means that against all odds, I am running a daycare for little wizards." His last comment was more to himself than to them. The three continued their way through the warehouse and soon found their way down a long pipe like structure that led them to large open platform, hanging from the ceiling nearby was a giant fleshy creature with tubes sticking out of it. To Dante it looked like some kind of strange caterpillar, and with drugs involved he began to think of the story his mother had told him in his youth called Alice in Wonderland. "Well, safe to say we found our Succubus. Clearly not European though, I wouldn't be seduced by that thing even if my life depended on it. Hey, wake up!"

"Who are you?" The creature asked. Pushing back a layer of flesh and leaning in their direction it was revealed to have a very human face, but with sharp teeth and an extra, large set of eyes on its forehead.

Dante chuckled and replied, "Well Mr. Caterpillar, this is an intervention."

The creature spawned four arms from within its fleshy mass and lunged forward at them puking up a mess. "You want to kill me? You can't kill me! I am twelve hundred years old."

Dante looked at her a little more closely and replied, "Only?" This question came with a curious tilt of his head.

"Fuck you!"

"Watch your mouth in front of the daycare kids," Dante retorted firing off a shot in the demon's direction.

The creature then tried to spew on them and they all dodged out of the way in different directions. No more words, this creature meant business now. When it opened up its mouth, Sora and Kairi both pointed their weapons directly at it. Flurries of ice flew forward from their weapons and with their aim true the combined attacks immediately froze over the demon's mouth. Dante nodded impressed and suddenly a blue sheen over his body made way to him pulling out an icey blue tripartite nunchaku. Slamming weapon on the ground below him, a path of ice pillar sprouted from the ground and caught the enemy's left two arms. He then jumped forward and with a mighty cheer slammed the weapon over the head of the enemy.

Sora meanwhile began looking for a way to trying maximize his capacity to damage the enemy. Looking up he saw what he was looking for in the tubes on her back. Kairi looked up and saw what Sora was so interested in. She ran to the side and cast another burst of ice at the creature to keep its attention away from Sora. Dante seemed to be having a grand time styling all over the enemy. A dash here, gunfire there, and a yell of triumph seemed to completely encompass everything he was about. However the ice was cracking and soon the Succubus would be free to fight back. Sora jumped and launched himself off of a nearby pillar. He flew through the air and launched himself further by launching a fireball behind himself.

At the peak of his jump, he hooked the end of his keyblade around the tube on the demon's back and as he spun around he seemed to generate a white aura. He kicked off of the fleshy mass and the tube was torn off the back of the creature. The ice down below shattered at the creature's pained thrashing.

Dante leapt towards the Succubus's mouth and jammed one of the heads of his weapon between her jaw and the roof of her mouth, propping her mouth open. He then flipped over Kairi who ran forward and knocked back a flailing arm. Dante swung another head of his nunchaku down on the creature's head, forcing the weapon in her mouth through the top of her head. She began to slump as she fell from the ceiling and collapsed into the liquid below her towards the pipe works that would chew up her body. The three winners all watched till that point before Sora and Kairi looked away. Dante simply shrugged as his weapon disappeared and he began to lead the two of them back up to the warehouse of the company.

"You two alright?" Dante asked them as they were rather quiet on their way back out of the factory.

Kairi was quiet. Sora simply hummed in the affirmative.

Dante fell back a little bit and Sora ended up taking the lead. Kairi was still really quiet. "Hey, Kairi you ok?"

"I am just not sure I am feeling too well," Kairi replied with her gaze kept firmly on the ground. "I don't know how I feel."

Dante looked at her with a certain curiosity. "Let's talk more after we get out of here, alright?" Kairi nodded. The rest of the trip was taken in silence. The three of them found Kat outside. Dante went over to Kat and whispered to her, "Can you distract Sora for a little while? I need to talk to Kairi for a few moments."

Kat looked up at him and then over at Kairi who looked considerably more under the weather than when they left. She looked back to Dante and nodded as she told him, "I can distract him for as long as you need." Kat walked over to Sora and started pointing at some things. He looked genuinely interested.

Dante took out a polaroid camera from the back of Kat's car and snapped a photo of Kairi with a small smile on her face watching Sora and Kat. There was a simple peace to her in that moment. Soon after though her gaze changed as she looked down at the ground. He took the photo and lightly shook it as he set the camera down and walked over to her.

"So what's going on in that head of yours?" Dante asked her as he walked up to her shaking the photo.

Kairi looked up at Dante quietly. Finally after a moment she asked, "How do you guys do it?" Dante saw that some tears were beginning to form in her eyes. He sat next to her and offered her his sleeve. He did not carry a handkerchief. This made Kairi laugh a little as she lowered his arm for him.

Dante looked at her and then finally replied, "How do we fight and move on you mean?" She nodded. "Look for all the downright bad aspects of my brother, he once told me something that honestly made a lot of sense to me. Sorry in advance for my poor impersonation of him. 'Might controls everything, and without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself.' Sounds kinda rough and I'll admit that there is more to it than that. But, as an impatient and impulsive teenager that I was at the time, it made a lot of sense to me. How could I try to protect humanity from the forces of hell when I couldn't protect myself from my own brother? I guess what I am trying to say is that battle is how we protect the things that are important to us. If we have the power to fight but are not willing to fight for those things, we have no one else to blame when they get taken away from us."

Kairi looked at Dante who was now looking up at the sky. It was a weirdly peaceful look for a man who had been swinging a blade his size in a whirlwind of destruction. "What is it that you want to protect?" Kairi asked him.

Dante without looking down answered without hesitation, "Humanity. My father was a demon and I am his half breed son. But when he existed in our world he found his humanity, he woke up to justice and became something more incredible than either human or demon was ever considered capable of being. A hero. A demon can become human if they learn to be more than their selfish desires. Just like a human can lose their humanity in pursuit of power to be like a demon. I want to protect humanity from all that threatens it." Dante looked down at Kairi and then showed her the polaroid photo which had now developed into her picture. "I want to protect stuff like this. The little looks people give even when they know no one is watching. The ability to care so deeply for something that you cry when it's gone or smile just from it being nearby. That is what I want to protect."

Kairi looked at the picture of herself for a few moments and then handed it back to Dante. "What do you think Sora wants to protect? Or Riku? Nero?"

"To be honest," Dante said looking at her with a small smile, "I think they probably would say something similar. I know that Nero wants to make a better world for the woman he loves. Sora seems to be far too happy to help people in general. Your friend Riku seems very protective of his friends. I mean he was ready to go to war with me if it meant being between me and you two." Kairi sat for a moment and then Dante asked her after a moment, "What do you want to protect Kairi?"

"I want to protect Sora and Riku," Kairi replied after a moment. "They are the two most important people in my life. I want what they want. If protecting the worlds and protecting us makes them happy, that makes me happy, too."

Dante nodded and gave a small laugh. "You'll be alright, Kairi. Whatever you fight for going into the future, don't give up on looking forward. Now let's let Kat go wherever she needs to go now," Dante told her as he placed the photo in an inside pocket. Kairi sat for a few moments and thought about the conversation she just had with him.


	4. Chapter 4

Nero and Riku arrived at the news station in silence. The two had ridden away from the old Sparda residence with a lot on their minds. For Nero, he had the double whammy of there being two different versions of his recently discovered father running around and on top of which, there are three teens telling him that his world is being absorbed by another world which is in danger of being destroyed in itself. Riku on the other hand, had left his two friends with the man named Dante and he still could not make up his mind about the man. While Sora would certainly protect Kairi if needed, none of them knew what the man was capable of or what he would be willing to do at a moments notice. The thing that disturbed him the most, was how much he seemed to revel in combat.

So now that they were at their destination however Riku finally found the desire to ask Nero a question. "Nero, how much do you trust Dante?"

"Dante?" Nero asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why is Dante the one you are worried about? Like I know the guy is the type to give everyone the wrong impression and he has a super punchable face. But honestly once you know the guy, you have to wonder if thereanyone else you'd ever want on your side. So wherever your friends are, you can rest assured that they will be taken care of."

Riku took this information and filed it away. Nero spoke highly enough of the man and could very well completely sum up Riku's first impression of him.

"So, what about Sora? You trust him right?" Nero asked afterwards.

Riku looked over at Nero and without any hesitation answered, "There is no one else I trust as much as I trust Sora."

Nero scoffed. "Well there ya' go. So what has got you so wound up?" Nero asked as he set his palm down on the ground. The ground began to glow like his blue arm. Soon the two of them found themselves in Limbo.

"Look, it is my experience that people with the kind of darkness that he has are almost always playing every side they can find an advantage on. So, excuse me if I am not the most trusting of the guy," Riku replied looking around at their environment. "Also the door disappeared." He commented as the entrance they had been looking when they left was now gone.

Nero holds his arm up and asked, "The hell do you think this it then? Decoration? Look, don't get me wrong man, Demon's are naturally selfish and evil creatures. But they are capable of achieving humanity. But you don't necessarily smell like someone who hasn't played with the darkness before." Nero looked at the building and then looked up. "Also we seem to be at the top of the tower now, look up."

Riku sighed at Nero bringing up the less proud aspects of his past. "I know. That is why I know what people like me have done," Riku replied regretfully. Riku looked up and he then back at Nero, "Race you to the top." Riku then leapt up and began to running up the side of the building. Nero watched him go for a moment and then his Devil Bringer lashed out up the side of the building grabbing an edge and threw himself up the side of the building. The two were up the side of the building in a short while and finally got themselves sitting on the roof of the overhang that was now currently under the door.

"All I am saying is you gotta know from your own experience that darkness does not have to be evil," Nero told him as they sat.

Riku looked down at the Limbo-ed city in front of them. "I just wish it were so simple," Riku replied finally. "My battle with darkness was not easy and I would have lost had I not had my friends who pulled me out of it."

"So you couldn't do it on your own. Big deal," Nero said nonchalantly. "You're here now aren't you? So get over the past. You are not gonna be help to anyone if you are always stuck in it. I was a dumb kid once. I only just recently learned to ask questions about things that I took as truth. You just gotta let all that crap go. Otherwise it is gonna tear you apart."

Riku looked at Nero and his youth became rather apparent. He was honestly not much older than Riku himself. But he did speak beyond his years, which was something he was noticing to be a pattern with people on some worlds. "Maybe you're right," Riku admitted. "Let's take care of the demon here and head back, huh?"

The two of them stepped into the building and were immediately assaulted at their senses. It was like walking through a news transition. Bright corny music, the platform they found themselves on looked like on of the graphics you would see go across the screen on a broadcast. Few enemies found their way to them most of them heartless, and even fewer proved to be any challenge. However after multiple platform changes and a massive final jump, they found themselves face-to-face with Bob Barbas himself.

"Tonight at 11, two intruders are dispatched by modern day cowboy and anchorman hero Bob Barbas after attempting to assassinate him. These criminals are believed to be associated with Terrorist Group known as The Order," announced a pretentious news anchor voice. Riku and Nero looked around to find the source of the voice as digital junk seemed to come together to show the most stereotypical looking anchorman looking at the two of them.

"What's the matter, you little shits? Cat got your tongues?" Bob taunted the two of them.

Nero however simply looked at the man and with a small smirk replied, "We're cutting your air time, pal." He flourished his blade and rested it on his shoulder.

Riku offered afterward, "Sorry Bob, but your old news."

Bob's digital form surged forward and began throwing beams of energy at the two intruders. Nero grabbed one of a few nearby red buttons and an energy wave seemed to deactivate the giant demon. "Really? You put your own weakness right next to where you are gonna fight? Super weak Bob." Nero began to radiate energy as Riku dashed forward at the digital enemy. Riku disappeared from sight when he then reappeared behind Bob's head. The Keyblade did some work on the digital form but energy began to explode out from Bob's head. Riku flipped back away from an attack. Nero then followed up by launching his arm forward at Bob's head. Smashing the head in his grip Bob cried out as he came back on power.

"Fuck it, we'll do it live!" Bob called as he powered up. Nero and Riku felt themselves disappear into a pocket of this digital world in Limbo. They suddenly found themselves surrounded by enemies as they got to work, Bob's voice began to report some story about how they were caught slaughtering innocent people and had histories of violence. Shortly after they found themselves back in the fight with Bob. Nero had it and when with his arm slammed each button in sequence. Bob cried out in pain once more. Nero ran forward and began unleashing a brutal series of strikes. Riku leapt up and dark energy consumed his hand as dark fireballs scatter through the air and bombarded the giant digital head of Bob Barbas. A newscast suddenly started and they saw something they were not ready to see.

"The people identified in this footage are members of The Order and their bunker is being readied to be raided as we speak. They will be brought down. Alive or dead." The newscast showed Vergil and Kat.

Riku and Nero took this as a sign to redouble their efforts as the two of them suddenly leapt to action again. Riku grabbed Nero and with a quick spin launched him at the Bob now showing on the newscast.

"Alright, Bob. Today's top story!" Nero called out. His hand passed into the image of Bob's physical body. "Media Tyrant Toppled, Citizen's Rejoice." Riku and Nero both reappeared in the real version of the studio. Riku let out a long breath of air. Nero simply scoffed and headed for the exit. "Let's go. We gotta find this bunker they mentioned in case he wasn't lying."

* * *

Dante leaned against Kat's car as she headed into the base. He was not the biggest fan of the idea of going into an underground bunker. Sora and Kairi seemed to disappear into their own little world again as they spoke with each other in a fairly animated fashion. Dante found himself to be morbidly curious about what these kids were talking about. He moved closer casually. After a few sessions of this he was finally close enough to hear them.

"Sora, how can you be so calm about this?"

"Well, this is probably the most intense world I have been to, but if I treat it like all the others then we'll be fine."

"I'm just not sure I am cut out for this yet. I did not finish my training with Merlin. I am worlds better than where I used to be but that really doesn't mean much when I started from zero," Kairi confessed. She was clearly not taking this well. Dante however did not know how to help with something like this. There were too many things he did not know about her situation. It seemed that they both had a long history before they got here and it sounded like they had both been many places.

Sora however placed a hand tentatively on her shoulder and with a small smile said to her, "We're together, right? We have each other's back?" She nodded. "Then things will work out. You committed to learning how to use your keyblade because you never wanted to be left behind again. You are here because you worked for it. There is no one else I would want here instead of you two. We will defeat Xehanort, we will save the realm of light, and then we will be home on our islands before you know it. We just have to all stay together."

Dante nodded approvingly as Sora finished his little pep talk. Though he tried not to let things get to him, Dante could relate a bit to her feelings. This basically proved that there was life out there somewhere other than the forces above and below the world he protected. There were forces out there he did not understand who stood just as much of threat against the world he protected as the forces he already had dedicated his life to fighting. Maybe there would be a reason for him to take the fight to these new forces, or maybe they would leave with these kids. But did these kids have what it took to guarantee the protection of all the worlds they claim are out there?

_Oh crap,_ Dante thought to himself, _I care about these daycare kids._

Sora and Kairi seemed to resolve the problem as Dante continued to have this internal conflict. Meanwhile, they were nearly caught unaware by the approaching military vehicles.

"Dante!" Sora called out to him snapping him from his distraction. He looked around to see a SWAT van style vehicle evacuating what he could only describe as poorly disguised humans. "What do we do?"

"Fight back!" Dante yelled back as he drew his sword. He dashed across the ground with the blade extended. Sora called the keyblade to hand and sent leapt at the closest enemy. Kairi seemed to lock up for a moment as she was confronted by three of the SWAT members. She finally opened her eyes and yelled out a trying battlecry. The three enemies pointed guns at her and pulled the trigger. A flash of light and a shielding hexagonal energy surrounded her as the bullets bounced back and killed her enemies.

Dante swung his sword with reckless abandon dropping enemy after enemy. Pulling his gun from a holster and he continued to blast shots at several nearby enemies. Their numbers did not seem to decrease by any real margin. "Why are they here?" Dante shouted in frustration as the numbers did not seem to decrease.

"They were bound to find the base eventually if they have not been on the move," Sora called back. He and Kairi found themselves being pushed back towards the entrance by the oncoming forces. Dante leapt up and over the men pushing his allies further towards the base. The number of shots being fired was almost too much to keep up. Dante pushed the two teens through the entrance and closed the door.

He looked at the two of them and with small sigh he finally was ready to take command. "Look, we need to go further in and warn those two if they have not heard the good news yet. We can't hold 'em off here, so we need to get going," Dante told them quickly as he continued to herd them through the facility. The three of them made their way through the compound. Shortly afterwards, they heard an explosion at the door behind them. "Didn't their mothers ever teach them how to use doors?" Dante remarked under his breath.

"Where do we go from here, Dante?" Sora asked as they seemed to come to a fork in the road.

"I don't know, this is the first time I have been here too!" Dante replied. Dante felt a familiar sensation and heaved a sigh. Looking down he found a familiar looking sigil under his foot. "Oh for crying out lo-"

Sora and Kairi looked back to the empty hallway. "Dante?" Kairi called out. "Sora, where did he go? What do we do?"

With no hesitation Sora replied, "We keep going. Dante can take care of himself. Come on Kairi." The two took off down the hall at a breakneck pace and soon found Kat working on a computer.

"Sora, Kairi? Oh, no. You two were supposed to be in Limbo with Dante. Did you guys miss the sigil?" Kat asked them as they entered the room. She began digging into her bag to pull out her stencil.

"I guess we did," Sora answered honestly. "Kat, what's going on?"

With a small shake of her head she explained, "We got found out. Our base is compromised. I can't get the security measures to activate and worst of all, Vergil is trying to back-up all our data so that we can wipe the drives and prevent Mundus from learning his identity."

"What can we do to help?" Sora asked.

Kat shook her head again. "You need to be in Limbo so they can't capture you. That is why I set up the sigil out in the hallway for you all. You two and your friend Riku have important jobs. I refuse to let this be the place that ruins things for the rest of the worlds out there," Kat told them adamantly after placing her new sigil down. "Please, you need to go over to Limbo now."

"Kat…" Kairi uttered barely above a whisper. She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around the girl. "Thank you." Kairi let go and then stepped on the sigil that Kat left on the ground disappeared.

Sora looked at Kat and after a few moments finally told her, "Be careful. We'll come back for you." Sora stepped on the sigil and disappeared. Kat stood there alone for a moment and held back a light sniff. Sora and Kairi could see her ghostly visage while in Limbo. She looked scared beyond belief.

"Sora! Kairi!" Dante called out from behind them having finally gotten into the room they were in. "Look, we gotta get going. Those guys are demons, we will be eventually seen, even while we are here in Limbo." The three took off further into the base and soon found themselves running alongside Kat. By the time they arrived in the main server room, demons were beginning to flood into Limbo trying to get at the main server.

"Vergil!" Kat called out to him. He turned to look at her as she approached. "They are almost here! You have to go."

Vergil nodded as he finally pressed the delete command on his server grabbing the drive he saved the information on. The server began to prepare a self-destruct sequence. She put down a new sigil for him and he quickly stepped onto it. Sora however saw that Kat just stood there afterwards.

"Why isn't she coming here?" Sora asked.

Vergil replied dismissively, "There is no time. She is also powerless to defend herself here. She has a better chance out there and she knows it." Sora did not like this answer at all.

The door to the server room was breached almost immediately after and soon coming into the room were those armored gunman that Sora and Kairi remembered from outside. Kat's hands in the air, she began to surrender to the intruders. As they approached though, Sora audibly yelled when they saw these intruders fire two bullets through her. Kat fell to the ground in pain and the intruders proceeded to violently beat Kat while she was down. Dante had to pull the two teens away from the scene so he could get them out of the bunker version of Limbo.

"What are we doing?" Sora yelled in outrage. He desperately tried to pull back towards Kat who was now being dragged by the men in question. "We can't leave her there! We can't them take her away!"

Dante whispered into his ear, "We can't help her now. We'll go and get her soon. Trust me." Sora finally stopped struggling. When Dante loosened his grip, Sora pulled away from Dante's grip. Both he and Kairi turned to leave with Dante and Vergil through Limbo. As they made it outside via a portal set up previously, they found themselves face to face with Nero and Riku.

"Where is Kat?" Nero asked.

Sora with a very angry look on his face replied, "They took her. And Vergil let them do it."

"What?" Riku asked just as outraged. Nero was quiet but the glare he gave the other version of Vergil was intense.

Dante put his hand up to calm all of them down. "We will get her back," he said. "But right now, we need to fall back and make a plan."

Vergil looked at him and said, "We cannot compromise ourselves further. If she can be saved then we will save her, but our focus should be on getting back at Mundus. How did your jobs go?"

"The succubus was defeated easily. And the hell you mean we cannot compromise ourselves further?" Dante asked the other version of his brother. "You are as compromised as you ever could be. If anything, we need to get her back to prevent Mundus from having leverage on you."

Nero added, "Bob has given his last newscast, not that it means much since we have lost Kat and your base of operations. What can we do to get her back?"

Vergil looked at everyone around him very clearly not happy with the turn of events and finally relented. "Look, we still have to go after his mistress. Maybe instead we can capture her and use her for an exchange for Kat," he suggested, defeated.

"We'll handle it. Then you and I need to have a serious discussion," Dante said. The silence between the two of them seemed to carry some heavy connotations, though everyone around them could not quite figure out what exactly they were communicating to each other. It was truly a battle of wills that ended as both of them began to lead the group away from the scene.

* * *

The whole crew hid out in an abandoned warehouse with a television to watch the news for a few days to wait for an opportune moment. The mistress in question was elusive and had yet to be seen. Dante has been in charge of trying to track her down and find out everything he could about the demon in question. However, the finally got a message back from Mundus in the form of a ransom video on their television.

"Say the name," a man's voice commanded to Kat. She looked almost like a broken doll. She sits with a pained lean to the side towards one of her bullet wounds and as neutral of a face as she could muster. "Say the name," the voice demanded much more forcefully.

After a moment of hesitation, Kat finally whispered, "Vergil."

"Hmm," the voice responded and from the left side of the screen walked a bald man in a suit. In place of his tie was a necklace of some kind and a strange mark on his forehead almost looked like a place for a third eye. As he passed by Kat, he laid a hand on his cheek like he was petting a dog. This pulled a noise that could almost be called a growl out of Sora. "Vergil. I don't know who you are, or why you have been stupid enough to attack me. But I know you mean something to this girl, so I suspect this girl means something to you." As he spoke he laid his hand on her head and this just seemed to get Sora angrier. Kairi had never seen Sora look this legitimately wrathful in her life. It was a strange look for him and she did not like it. "I also know that you are collaborating with the Nephilim. I want the Nephilim. You want the girl. We trade their lives."

With an intrigued look, Vergil simply commented, "Interesting."

"Interesting?" Nero asked from the back of the group.

"Mundus knows less than I thought. He knows my name, but that's it: not that I am the brother of the Nephilim or that I am one myself," Vergil explained.

Nero gave Vergil a disappointed look and said, "You are lucky she is so strong and loyal to not give up that information."

"So," Dante added with a pause. "We go and get the Mistress, then we trade that life instead of mine."

"Why would Mundus care about one of his whor-" Vergil started and was stopped by the warning look he got from Dante. "Underlings."

Dante simply stood up and replied, "Maybe because she's showing a baby bump. I have been keeping my ears open the last couple days little, big brother. She has been missing more days from her club than normal and she's showing."

"His unborn child? This is perfect for getting him out of his lair," Vergil exclaimed his epiphany.

Sora finally snapped, "No! We are going to save her."

"Why put this one girl in front of all of humanity?" Vergil asked incredulously.

Riku however finally piped up and remarked, "There are ways to get behind enemy lines Vergil. She did this for you. The least you could do is repay the favor."

"We are not leaving her there any longer than is needed," Kairi added.

Vergil looked at the group around him and sighed again. "Ok, I can see that. We'll do it your way this time."

That evening, the five warriors all headed out to the club. With the whole group of them the job was so easy as to be nearly unnoteworthy. Nero got her in a firm grip to prevent her child from attempting to fight back and Dante with the three keybearers defeated swarms of demons to keep them from interfering. With Lilith now in captivity, the group took her back to the warehouse where they began getting ready to contact Mundus with the demand of an exchange.

"So we will have him do the exchange at the docks?" Nero asked to confirm the plans.

Dante hummed in confirmation. "Kat for his mistress. We will do it over a length of distance where his squad cannot get a good look at either me or Vergil. The more time we can buy, the better. You three will be in charge of running interference in case Mundas tries to pull a fast one on us. Nero, your job is be on the lookout for OUR Vergil. If he is out there, then this would be the time he will probably run interference on us. He will be a problem, but all you have to do is keep him busy," Dante finished confirming the plan with all the people in the room.

As the group all confirmed their part of the plan, Dante signaled to Vergil and took him aside and the two of them sat down on some old boxes.

As the rest of the group began to disperse, Nero grabbed Sora's shoulder and said, "Hey, let's take a walk and cool that head of yours, yeah? You're making me nervous and that is saying something."

"Aren't you fired up about this like I am?" Sora asked as Nero began dragging him away from where they had watched the message.

Nero just sighed and replied, "Of course, I am. But you need to learn the same lesson I did before it gets you into trouble. Emotions are powerful things, but you can't let them control your actions, kid."

"Who you calling, kid?"

"The kid who's practically throwing a tantrum right now because he can't control his emotions. That kid. Jeez, you're making me feel like Credo," Nero said finally getting Sora to actually walk with him.

"Credo?" Sora asked.

Nero replied, "He was the Captain of the Guard for the Order in Fortuna. He was also basically my older brother since his family took me in. He was constantly looking out for me and trying to keep me out of trouble because of my emotional outbursts. Kinda came with the territory of being an orphan."

Sora was quiet for a moment before he asked, "What is Credo like?"

"He was serious to a fault, completely dedicated to the Order as a believer. It was the unfortunate circumstances of the Order kidnapping his sister to use her as a bargaining chip to try and put me in a leash that he..." Nero replied. The look on his face could only convey one, single message. Nero blamed himself for what had happened. Sora realized that Nero had said 'was' which meant that Credo was no longer around.

"What happened to him?" Sora asked as his temper began to cool.

Nero looked ahead and replied, "He's dead. Killed by the Order that he dedicated his whole life to when he refused to let them take away both his sister and his adopted younger brother. Not without a fight at least. I'm pretty sure the only reason Dante sobered at all up during all that was because he was there when Credo died. At least, that was the message I got from his partner. No one should have to go what he and his sister had gone through because of my temper. That is why I need you to keep it in check going forward. Nothing good has ever come from spiteful, vengeful spur of the moment decisions. Alright?"

Sora looked over at Dante and Vergil sitting across the warehouse having what seemed like a very serious conversation. "Alright," Sora said reflecting on Nero's words.

Dante and Vergil were both quiet for a moment until Dante was certain that the others were all out of earshot, especially his nephew, and finally spoke directly to Vergil. "What is your endgame?" he asked seriously.

"What?"

"Did I stutter, Vergil?"

Vergil crossed one of legs across the other and looked at Dante and finally responded, "Well I want to rid humanity of Mundus."

"Cut the crap," Dante said exacerbated. "Mundus being removed from the picture is not the end of the road. That is the climax and after that there is the resolution. What happens in the resolution?"

"Well then, we would rule over humanity. The sons of Sparda being their leaders and taking them out from under the boots of oppression," Vergil responded proudly.

Dante shook his head as the confirmation came out. "So to get this straight, you are wanting to overthrow Mundus, so you can be the next Mundus? Do you even care about humanity? Or is this all just to inflate your ego?"

"Why would I do this if I did not care about humanity?"

"Because if you cared about them, you would want to free them from the dictatorship not just transfer the ownership rights. Humanity in your world does not need a new Mundus, they need guardians. Protectors to stand between them and those who would rule them so they can learn to fix their problems and leave behind the corruption of being under the heel of some other ungodly entity," Dante nearly exclaimed back.

"Are you saying that you did not rule in your version of the earth?" Vergil asked, taken aback by the suggestion.

"Of course not you fedora-wearing tyrant. My version of our father cast away the selfishness of his demonic existence because he realized that humanity was something to treasure and protect. Not claim and rule. Like I may hate the guy for leaving his family to be terrorized by the likes of demons who would love nothing else to get revenge, but he could see the bigger picture here regardless," Dante told him in an oddly passionately way. "The reason I even have humanity to protect is because he turned his back on his fellow demons to protect the humans they were slaughtering. Those of us who have the power to defend something important must be the ones to do it. Humanity really can't defend itself in the bigger picture. But the last thing they need is some creature telling them how to be human. That is not my place, that is not Mundus's place, and that is not your place."

Vergil seemed taken aback by this outburst. "But they have spent years being made fat and stupid," he said.

"Then teach them to be smart again. But you are not going to do them any favors by giving these 'fat and stupid' humans of your world easy solutions. Especially not now that it's gotten this bad. They have to be challenged or there will be no drive to grow. They have had their potentials taken away from them. Give it back to them, don't play a shakespearean game of tyrannical keepaway," Dante lectured.

Vergil was on the defensive and asked, "What will you do if I don't listen to you now? If I take the throne?"

Dante paused, then stood up and replied, "Nothing. This isn't actually my world. But I don't think Kat would like to see you become Mundus. And if your version of me has even a fraction of intellect and honor, he would probably fight you. Right now, getting rid of Mundus still helps me. Presumably dealing with the hellgate and this Keyhole business will separate our worlds from each other. But after that, the consequences of your actions belong to you and you alone." Dante walked away and left Vergil to mull over what he had said.


	5. Two Days Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the big dramatic chapter. Big Warning: Major Character Death Tag

Dante and Vergil stood in the docking yard of Limbo City accompanied by their heavy duty vehicle. Mundus had been very understanding of the position he was in and had agreed with the exchange to get his offspring back. Way down the way, another vehicle appeared. With the SWAT members on top of it, armed. They too stayed by the car. Both vehicles had door opened and hostages were released. Kat and Lilith began to slowly walk towards each other. Dante had an old sniper Rifle in hand that he had called Spiral. With his eye in the sight he had the men in the far vehicle. However, in a brief moment of adjustment he was surprised to hear Vergil's gun go off and with his gaze of out scope for just a moment he watched the blood come flying out of Lilith's abdomen.

Kat tried to run forward after the guns behind her began firing but she fell forward, weakened from her experience in the Silversacks building. Dropping down from above Riku landed between her and SWAT members. A shimmering shield appeared before him and the bullets bounced away harmlessly. Kat got back onto her feet and hurried her pace as Riku followed behind her deflecting the bullets as they came his way. Kat climbed into the car and Vergil fired a second shot into Lilith's head before he dropped down into the driver's seat as Dante slipped into the back with Kat to check on her wounds.

"What the hell was that about?" Dante yelled at Vergil from the back seat.

Vergil ignored him as the peeled out. However, all three of the people in the vehicle felt a wave of energy. "Mundus has noticed," Vergil said out loud.

The three keybearers outside the vehicle ran alongside the car as it dove. A portion of the dock fell out in front of the car. Sora jumped forward and cast a Magnet spell. It pulled the car up and then when he dispelled the effect, the car felt forward towards the other side of the dock. Landing with a heavy thud, Vergil kept the car moving.

"Those kids sure are good at what they do," Dante commented as he finished looking over Kat. She had been basically patched up after the bullet wounds but her arm was weak and would need a sling.

Kat nodded in agreement. "I hope they are alright out there. Mundus is angry," she said quietly. Dante looked out the window and up on top of a shipping container he saw his brother. His Vergil truly was unchanged from the day he dropped into Hell when they were young. Nero was charging across that same container and the two were then obscured by a crane before he could see what happened.

Outside of the car, Kairi looked up from their chase of the car and also saw the two white haired men up on the shipping container. She stopped running after the car and made her way up to the two of them. Sora looked back at her and called out.

"You go on ahead, I am going to back up Nero!" Kairi replied. Sora nodded and continued down the the dock. Riku had been doing his best to keep the car moving and it seemed like they were just about home free. Until a large mud monster with three eyes seemed to swell up from the end of the dock.

"You have meddled in the affairs of my world for too long, Keybearers. You kill my mistress and rob me of my child. I will stain the world with your treacherous blood and let my underlings feast upon your miserable flesh," the monster bellowed. Its voice was strangely familiar.

The car skid to a stop as Dante and Vergil both got out of the vehicle. The only word to escape Vergil's lips was, "Mundus."

Dante got his 'other' brother's attention and asked him, "How do we destroy the hell gate?"

Vergil looked at him and then at his own blade. "I will need to go to the Silversacks building. Destroy the hell gate with my katana," Vergil finally told him.

Riku leapt down next to the two of them, "Vergil, we need to go to that gate then. If it is also the resting place of the keyhole, then it needs to be locked."

Dante nodded. "You two get going. Sora and I will keep Mundus busy," he commanded.

Sora found his way down to Dante and the two of them stood in the path of the monster. "Any idea on how to beat this thing?" Sora asked hopefully.

Dante shook his head. "It'll be a hell of a party finding out though!" Dante replied and then launched himself off the end of the dock at the demon.

Up on the shipping crate, Nero and Vergil found themselves in a bit of a deadlock as neither one seemed to be able to get the upper hand on the other. Kairi kept her distance, launching spells at the man in the blue coat when openings made themselves available. Vergil looked at the grown version of his son and the girl with contempt. "Why do you stand in my way?" Vergil asked angrily.

Nero shrugged and replied, "Don't know. Maybe, I am just looking for some validation from my deadbeat dad."

Vergil readied his fists again and replied, "My sword. I know you have it. Give it to me."

Nero shook his head and said, "No way. This is a hand me down. No take backs." Vergil charged forward again and this time made a direct dash for Kairi. She raised her keyblade up and barely managed to deflect the attack. Nero's Devil Bringer lashed out and grabbed his father. As he pulled him away from Kairi, Vergil seemed to blink out of existence for a moment and reappear behind his son. Kairi ran forward and with a quick jab forward, got Nero to leap over as Vergil attempted to grapple him. The keyblade found its mark and Vergil leapt back a few steps to prevent further damage. However, that interaction did teach him something. Kairi was inexperienced and Nero was arrogant. He could use both of these facts to his advantage.

Dante and Sora found dealing with Mundus frustrating, It was not very rewarding to fight something that was practically indestructible. The hellgate was the reason and until it was broken they were stuck fighting a never ending battle. Dante jumped up on the demon and leapt over its head to unleash a massive load of bullets into the skull of the big ugly monster. Sora meanwhile continued to distract the enemy by reflecting the melee attacks of the giant.

Vergil found himself on the dominant side of the fight after a few minutes of observing his opponents' fighting style. Nero found himself off balance most of the fight as Vergil kept catching him mid-swing. Meanwhile, Kairi was very clearly outmatched barely able to get her blade between herself and the shiny gloves being wielded by this skillful fighter. Vergil dashed forward, grabbed Nero's Devil Bringer and with a mighty swing, ripped the arm from the young man's body. Nero skid to a stop as he gripped the open wound yelling out in pain. Squeezing the arm, it seemed to explode outward from Vergil's hand and all that was left was the Yamato.

"Finally, my father's blade is back where it belongs," Vergil commented holding the blade up. The blade was out and the light was shining off of the blade.

"Nero!" Kairi called out. She dashed over to him and began trying to pull him away from the fight. "Get up, we have to get away."

Nero struggled back to his feet and Kairi supported him as the two of them began trying to make a hasty retreat. They needed to put as much distance between them and Vergil as possible. Kairi looked back at the last moment to see Vergil finally stop admiring the katana back in possession and look over at the two of them running away.

Dante felt a familiar thrum of energy. He looked back towards the dockyard as the realization set in for him. Vergil had his katana. What happened to the kid? "Sora, let's go! We need to find Nero," Dante commanded. The two of them took off towards the city.

"You can run, Nephilim. You cannot hide," Mundus called after Dante as they ran. He sank back down into the ocean.

Sora leapt up on top of a nearby shipping container. He could not see Kairi. Looking further towards town he could not see Riku or the other Vergil either. "Please be ok, everyone." Sora and Dante ran out of the dockyard and made their way towards Silversacks.

Kairi leaned Nero on a window washer lift on a building. Turning it on the two rode up the side of a tall building on the edge of the financial district of Limbo City. Nero slid down to a sitting position and after a steep intake of breath and a grunt of pain said, "I am just slowing you down. You should-"

"No," Kairi interrupted him. "I am not going to leave you behind with that monster." She grabbed the damaged end of his sleeve that was now hanging uselessly. Ripping it off of his jacket she tied the bloody coat sleeve into a tourniquet. "We are almost to the top. We are just a few blocks from Silversacks now. The other Vergil and Riku should be over here soon. We just have to keep away from your Vergil until then. Ok?"

Nero sighed and then nodded. "Alright," was all he could say. Nero lifted himself back onto his own feet. As their window washer finally reached the top of the building the two of them were confronted by the presence of Vergil.

"Clever attempt at running from me. But I think it is time we settle this," Vergil said. Nero tried to arm himself but fell back down into a sitting position as the blood loss caused him to weaken and become light headed. Kairi stood firm however and with her Keyblade in hand she stood between Vergil and Nero.

"Stay away!" she demanded, voice shaking.

"You do not want to do this," Vergil told her still completely at ease.

Kairi shook her head. "But I will. There are things that are too important to leave alone. So I am going to "

Vergil sighed. "Then you will die."

Kairi felt her knees shake and as she tried to calm herself, Vergil dashed forward. His sword still sheathed, he swung the blunt weapon at her. Kairi could barely believe how fast this man was moving. Or that she managed to actually block a couple of swings. His swings were practiced and focused to the point of being nearly impossible to react to and the blunt sheath whenever it made contact would hurt like none other as she felt herself getting knocked around every time it made contact with her. Feeling a bit beaten and sore from these attacks she knew she had to change something in this fight. But when Kairi tried to take the offensive, Vergil leaned out of the way of the attack and the end of his hilt lashed forward into her stomach and Kairi found herself on the ground.

"Do not make me do this," Vergil told her as he began to walk away from her and toward Nero. A massive wave of energy suddenly exploded from Silversacks.

"The hellgate," Nero commented still trying to keep conscious. "They did it. Mundus can be defeated."

As if on queue, Mundus rose up from the streets. "What have you done?!" Mundus roared. The other Vergil was now in the window of the Silversacks building looking at Mundus defiantly. Riku was further in the building. His keyblade pointed out at the keyhole, a beam of light flew out from the end. The keyhole was sealed. While the giant muck monster should have captured his attention, his eyes were almost immediately drawn to Kairi on the nearby building. He could see Nero also, but he seemed to be down as well. As soon as he readied himself to go to her, she was up and dashing forward to attack Vergil.

Sora and Dante made their ways across rooftops as they moved to catch up to their allies. As the two of them approached Silversacks, Mundus had burst up from the ground. Sora and Dante were forced to deviate paths. Dante ended up a few buildings over from the sight of his brother with his katana. He saw Kairi getting up off the roof and charging Vergil.

Vergil looked over at Dante and then in one smooth motion drew his blade and thrusted it backwards under his arm. "Consider this two points in my favor, Dante!" Vergil called out. He adjust his grip and as he brought the blade around, an impaled Kairi came with it blood droplets tracing her path. She had dropped her keyblade and was gripping at the katana she was now being lifted off the ground on. A whimper escaped her lips as she desperately tried to support her weight sitting uncomfortably on the blade stabbed through her abdomen. The whimpers continued as her movements seemed to become more desperate for some kind of relief from the pain that racked her body. But soon shadows began consuming her vision and a sensations began to completely take over her mind and her attempts became unfocused and weakened. After struggling for a few more moments, Kairi's body went limp.

"Kairi!" Dante heard Sora call out from across the street. Vergil swung the blade with enough force to fling Kairi from the end and ultimately off the side of the building. Dante dashed across the way and then leapt off the building after her.

Riku summoned a dark portal behind himself and as he stepped through he ended up on the roof with Vergil. "What have you done!?" Riku tried to fight Vergil who vanished and reappeared a small distance away. "Don't you run from me!"

Dante's world was in slow motion as he remembered their conversation from before. All she wanted was to be with her two friends and for all of them to be happy together. Her body began to glow as it forced him to cover his eyes as he fell. "Kairi!" he called out desperately. Her body seemed to burst into sparks of light before he flipped over to his feet and landed with heavy thud. Dante took a moment to slam his hand into the ground beneath him, in anger.

Sora felt himself begin to break inside. It was like a darkness that had been festering inside was beginning to run rampant. But the despair that filled him made him fall to his hands and knees as tears began to pool in his eyes. A bright light from below had shone bright. He heard Dante yell Kairi's name and finally after a few moments where Sora had completely lost himself in thought he felt himself become airborne, sent flying by an attack from Mundus. Where he landed was down on the street by a familiar looking car. Stepping out of the driver's seat was Kat who knelt by him.

"Sora, I am so sorry," Kat said to him quietly as she pulled his head onto her lap. The chaos of the events happening around them involved Dante and the other Vergil going to bat with fighting Mundus. Kat tried to pull Sora closer to the vehicle as he was nearly unresponsive. Mundus was shortly dispatched by the two brothers. Dante turned to check on Sora and as he did he felt something pull on him. As he pulled away from that force, he felt a presence split away from his body. Turning for a brief moment, Dante watched as a short dark haired version of himself from the photo Kat had shown him all those days ago walked towards his brother. He would need to talk to him soon, but first he walked over to Sora and he saw Kat leaned over Sora.

"Sora, promise me something. Please stay that bright person I have come to know. It is going to hurt. But people like us are strong. We are survivors. Even if we don't see each other again, know that I will never forget you," Kat whispered to him. Dante took Sora from Kat and carried him away from the scene. After that, everything went dark for the young man and the world faded away.

* * *

It was a slow dredge from the darkness for Sora as he struggled to recover his consciousness. The memories of what had caused him to shut down stung his mind. His eyes clenched as he held back the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him again. After a few moment, he started hearing a conversation.

"Any luck finding Riku?" Sora heard Dante ask. No response was heard but Dante continued to speak. "Yeah, it was the same with Trish... Thanks for looking into it, Lady... Nero? He's alright to say the least. Pissed off more than anything… Look, keep me posted if you find anything. I have to check on Sora. It's been nearly 12 hours since he went unresponsive… I can't say I blame him… Well, she was pretty special. And she was crazy about him… Yeah… I gotta go. Thanks," Dante hung up his phone and started walking over to the couch in his office.

Dante looked at him for a moment. How the hell was he supposed to wake this kid up just to crush his world again. Dante began pacing trying to work out a way to say it to him. Pacing was soon followed by sighs and then shortly after it was followed by arms crossing and uncrossing.

"Dante," Sora said out loud. "I heard."

"I see," Dante said idly. He sighed and then added, "So, what happens now?"

Sora opened his eyes and sat up so he was sitting down on the couch. "I really don't know. I suppose when it is time, the keyblade will take me to the next place I need to go," Sora replied.

Dante nodded. He sat down on the couch and leaned back. After a moment he asked casually, "So… how would a guy like me go about heading out with you?"

"What?"

"Well, I mean you came here with two allies. Right now, until we find Riku you have no allies. While I could never hope to replace those two, I would think that it would not be the worst thing in the world for you to have someone watching your back," Dante explained. This conversation seemed to be going nowhere until Sora finally replied.

"I don't know if I have any real choice on that," Sora said glumly.

Dante stood up and said, "Really? Well if it's the keyblades choice, then summon it and tell it that I am coming! And if it dare makes you leave without me in tow then get rid of that thing because that is a damn curse!"

Sora looked down and sighed.

"Of course, you will do the right thing and keep it. Look, can I tell you a story about another guy like that? I have not always gone by the name Dante, you know. So a long time ago, I lived in a city with my mother and my older brother Vergil. One day, long after my father has left us behind to seal the demon world for the 5th or 30th time, I honestly forget. See, some demons came to town and decided that they wanted to get even. My mother, her name was Eva, hid me in a closet so she could go look for Vergil. But before she left me there she told me, that if she did not come back for me, that it was up to me to run. Be a man, change my name, make a new future and forget my past. So she didn't and then I did. I took on the name Tony Redgrave. But to make a long story short, I eventually took back my name. Like me, you could not let go of your greater purpose," Dante said. He paused and realized he may not be making his point properly. "So I think what I am saying is you and I are as equally screwed by fate." He plopped down next to Sora with a huff. "Really thought I had something there."

Sora looked over at him and after a moment simply said, "Thanks. For being here for me, Dante."

"Meh, what can I say, you are not that bad to watch over, Day Care kid."

"So, what happened with the others? Kat and the other Vergil?" Sora asked.

Dante put his feet up on the small table and recounted the last 12 hours, "Well the worlds started putting themselves back to normal. The other version of me went and took his rightful spot over in that world. Kat was shocked to find out that Vergil wanted to replace Mundus, not just get rid of him. I may or may not have imparted some wisdom to the other me to put some gears into motion to prevent that from happening. Otherwise, they suddenly disappeared with the rest of the changes just like how it all showed up. So… I guess we were successful."

"Yeah," Sora replied. "I hope the other version of you manages to keep that world in order. It seemed like it was kind of a mess."

"You are telling me," Dante replied. "Between my 'fake' brother being just as self-righteous as his original version and my fake apparently being some kind of trailer trash kid with a chip on his shoulder the size of my nephew's ego, that world needs all the hope it can get." The two of them sat quietly. After a moment, Dante looked over the his young ally and then said, "You want to get a pizza?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... about that whole chapter. My apologies. But as far as Sora is concerned, this is him reacting in much more like how he does before the final fight if you catch my drift. Otherwise, where does this story go from here? Well, the next part of the story begins the next part of the cross over. Hope some of you like Persona, because we diving head first into it next.
> 
> Thanks again for reading.
> 
> ~Nox


	6. Foolishness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Well, here come part two of the crossover. Welcome to P4Arena. More information at the end!
> 
> Also, sorry for the delay, I am also on the FF dot net. So I have never dealt with Tags in this way before. Tags updated, and hoping to have another chapter for you in the next couple of days while I work on getting this site caught up, so to speak.

On the tail end of among some of the strangest occurrences of the collective young lives of him and his friends', a young man sitting at a table on top of a department store shook his head in disbelief. He looked around to see if anyone else was seeing this. No one else seemed to pay any mind. Maybe it was due to his last year of dealing with the strange and supernatural that gave him such a keen eye for the unusual, but how were people missing two lights falling out of the sky like this? He looked at the clock on his phone. There was still 5 minutes until the meeting time, his friends would understand. The screen shut off and he saw his grey hair in the reflection hanging just a little lower than where he usually kept it. Placing the phone back in his pocket he made his way off the food court and into the elevator to the ground floor. Settling in for a nervous moment of energy as he was excited to go and find out about this.

Feeling wistfully nostalgic, he looked around at the town that he had called his home for one of the hardest years of his life. There was the notice billboard that contained job offerings he had taken up to make money. Down the street would be the textile shop that belonged to the family of one of his underclassmen. He passed by the grocery store, the local blacksmith, the tofu shop where one of his closest bonds from the previous year had started and even the bookstore where he passed his time purchasing books to further pass time. All of them had been important to him in different ways during his time here. Picking up the pace, the young man found himself tracing the path of the lights to the local floodplain. Laying on the grass were two teens he was unfamiliar with, which was strange because they both stood out. One was spiky haired to almost a comedic degree and the other's hair was silvery white. However, they were both wearing the uniform to his former school. How had the lights ended here at these two napping on the floodplain?

The first to move was the white haired one laying next to a large nylon guitar case. "Ah, crap. Well that was a rude awakening," he groaned. As he sat up, he suddenly began to look around like he was not in the place he remembered falling asleep. Looking back, his gaze drifted up to the grey haired kid up the stairs from patch of grass he found himself on. "Oh, you're so quiet, I didn't notice you."

"My apologies, I didn't mean to disturb you from your nap down here. I was just following some strange lights in the sky and seemed to have lost track of them here," the young man replied. He mentally reprimand himself for talking about strange skylights so casually. "You know, I don't think I recognize the two of you. You new to the school?"

The white haired young man seemed to be confused by the question. Then he looked down and noticed he was wearing a uniform of some kind. He walked over to the water and looked down at his reflection. "What in the… yes! Yes, we are," he replied suddenly. "Forgot it was a holiday though. Anyway, my name is Dante. And you are?"

The grey haired kid replied, "My name is Yu Narukami. It is very nice to meet you Dante-kun. And what's the name of your friend?"

"Sora," replied the spiky haired teen 'napping' on the grass.

"It is nice to meet you as well," Yu said to him. "Anyway, I will disturb your sleep no longer. Enjoy the rest of your days."

"Yeah, thanks. You too," Dante answered. As soon as the grey haired teen was over the edge of floodplain, he continued. "Sora, why the hell do I look like I'm your age?"

Sora's eyes fluttered open and standing above him was a young Dante. "Well, if I had to guess, my keyblade probably changed you to make you fit in more with the environment. Pretty sure it learned that from a wizard friend of mine," Sora answered. He looked down at his school uniform. "Well this is different," Sora commented idly.

Dante was pacing now, "So, I am now on a different world? Ah, crap. Is this how it always feels? So foreign yet slightly familiar?"

Sora shrugged and said, "You get used to it pretty quickly."

"How are you so calm?" Dante exclaimed. "Oh… right. You do this for a living." The realization did seem to calm Dante down some. "So, assuming your objective here is the same as it was back on my world, we're looking for a keyhole, right?"

Sora nodded as he got himself up on his feet. "Well, we can start by getting a look around. Try to learn about our environment. Maybe we can find some clues about where to find the keyhole so we can save this world," Sora suggested.

Dante nodded and went back to the river for one last look at his reflection.

Meanwhile, crouched down just over the lip of the stairs, Yu Narukami was shocked by the things he just heard. "Different worlds" and "magically changing one's age" being among the topics. He quickly moved away when they began discussing looking around. He could not get caught eavesdropping. Looked like he had a new thing to look into with the Investigation Team. With a bitter realization that they were never going to get to just hang out this holiday, Narukami took off down the street to go back to the Junes food court. All this time in basketball was really good for his cardio.

Yu got back to Junes just as his underclassman Kanji Tatsumi was arriving. "Whoa, senpai. It is not like you to be showing up late," Kanji commented. Even though Yu did not go to his school anymore, Kanji's respect for his upperclassmen had kept this from changing just because he was no longer going to the same school.

"Well, I was here earlier. But I have found something strange going on around here. Again," Yu replied.

Kanji looked at him and then said, "Again? Are we ever gonna just get to hang out?" This got a chuckle out of Yu.

The two rode up their elevator to the food court where the rest of their group of friends was currently sitting around their usual table. Yu looked at them all and was reminded of so many visits to this place, whether it was for the investigation or for studying for exams.

"Hey Partner!" called out a jovial brown haired teen. He was wearing an apron for the store they were all gathering at and his name tag read Yosuke Hanamura. Yosuke was actually the son of the owner of this particular branch. He had been one of the first friends Yu had made upon coming to the town of Inaba. "I can't believe I got off work before you got here."

"Yosuke, knock it off! He is probably tired after the P-1 Grand Prix thing. I know I am," reprimanded Chie Satonaka, an energetic tomboy. She was leaned back in a chair waiting for her food to be finished. She was the second friend Yu had made in the town. A kung-fu movie buff and a total carnivore, she was like a battery for their group of friends.

"I still can't believe that I was being used to motivate you guys for that," complained a pouting Rise Kujikawa on a small break from her idol career after her disappearance into the Grand Prix situation. People may have been more familiar with her stage name Risette, but Yu preferred the Rise he knew. A passionate and expressive young woman who just wanted to mean something to people. "Senpai, I am so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?" she asked latching onto Yu's arm. Holding back a blush he just stayed quiet and nodded.

A bear mascot suddenly interjected with, "But what about me? They used a bear-y evil version of me to look like the bad guy. How can I protect my image with imposters trying to ruin my rep?" That mascot was named Teddie. An energetic little enigma who was a Shadow that obtained an ego and manifested themselves as a human. Shadows usually did not have that power without their creators nearby, but Teddie beat the odds there.

"Shut it, you dumb bear. You work as an unofficial mascot for our store, you don't have a 'rep.' Geez…" complained Yosuke. Teddie seemed to be mock offended at this accusation and the two of them argued more off to the side.

"Still, that was a weird experience," commented Yukiko Amagi, the heiress of the Amagi Inn. Yu knew that she had once dreaded being forced into taking over for her parents one day. After realizing how important the place was after a brief moment of teenage rebellion, she fell back in love with the work.

The only one not talking at this point was the quiet and observant Naoto Shirogane who was looking right at Yu. As the initial excitement seemed to calm down she finally said, "So Yu-senpai, you look like you have something to tell us all." Ever observant as she always was it seemed. To be expected considering that she earned a reputation on TV as being the Detective Prince. Only a second year and so prolific at her chosen profession she has been brought on as a consultant to official cases. That was actually how she got involved with the group here though she was currently on a break from her current investigation. The group's attention fell onto Yu who had been strangely quiet as well since he arrived.

"Yeah, I witnessed something strange today. Something to look into maybe, but I am not certain," Yu started but seemed to hesitate. "This is going to sound crazy."

Yosuke laughed. "When don't we deal with stuff that sounds crazy?"

"Yeah, I doubt whatever you are going to say is going to be too unbelievable," Chie agreed.

Yu took a breath and then finally said, "I just encountered people who seem to think they have come from another world. Like truly believe it. I was sitting here in the food court, early like I usually am and I saw these two lights streak across the sky. I realized that they fell close by and when I followed them, I encountered two students I had never seen before. One with a guitar and silvery white hair. The other with spiky brown hair. When I found them, they were just sleeping down on the riverbank. Next thing I know they are waking up and I am having the most awkward conversation i ever had. And when I made them think I had left, they started saying some really weird stuff."

"What kinda stuff?" Kanji asked.

Yu took another a hesitant breath and finally said, "They mentioned that they needed to find something called a "keyhole" and save our world like they had at a previous one. Additionally, the one with the white hair made the comment about suddenly being the same age as the other one. It was strange. And had they not been so sincere in how they talked to each other, I would have sworn they were messing with me. I just don't know what to think at this point."

"Sounds fishy," Chie commented.

Naoto hummed in thought for a moment and then responded, "After everything we have been through, this is certainly something we should look into. There is too much about the world that we are finding out that we don't know. This is something that could teach us more about the world that keeps itself hidden."

Rise added, "You know, senpai now that you mention it, I felt something strange not to long ago. It was almost like Himiko sensed something powerful even though we are out here in the normal world. It can't be a coincidence that when you say two guys mysteriously show up, I feel two immensely powerful waves of energy."

"Wait, so you mean to tell me not only did they come from the sky, they are immensely powerful guys? Are we sure they aren't just alien invaders?" Yosuke exclaimed.

Yukiko however was much calmer about this situation and answered, "Even if they are Aliens, Yu mentioned that when they were alone they mentioned saving our world. That has to be enough to earn at least the benefit of a doubt."

"Oh, maybe we could get them on our side then!" Chie suggested.

"And just how we gonna do that?" Kanji asked. "Oh hey, we like to save the world. Let's work together?"

"A direct approach may not be the best one," Naoto agreed.

The group seemed to think about this.

"Well, we'll table that for now and just enjoy each other's company. It has been a while since we could all just sit down together," Yu commented. "Especially since I will have to return home tomorrow."

The group all agreed and they decided to just relax for the rest of the day. As the day went on however, Yu got distracted by the appearance of two young men at the food court. They took a seat nearby and Yu closed his eyes and focused on trying to hear what they were talking about.

"Well this town is almost as small as my shop," Dante remarked. "I feel like we have been all over the place and nothing looks like it could be important enough to be the place for the keyhole."

Sora shrugged again.

"You're still thinking about her, huh?" Dante asked.

"Everyday," Sora answered.

"I can't blame you," Dante replied. "Look, we haven't really talked about it since it happened."

Sora looked up at the sky and just sighed. "Dante, I don't know if I am ready to talk about this. Not yet," Sora replied. "I just don't really know what I am feeling right now, let alone putting it into words. But when I do, I will let you know."

Dante paused for a moment and then just said, "Whatever you say, kid."

"Senpai, you are not paying attention to me!" Rise's voice suddenly broke through Yu's concentration. "What are you…?" She paused as the silvery white hair nearby finally caught her attention. "Is that them?"

Yu simply nodded. "It seems there may be more to them than I realized, we'll talk later," he said to her.

The conversation continued on as lively as it had been. The day was getting late however and everybody was going to need to head home soon.

"Look, I gotta get this bear home. He's coming down off a sugar high thanks to all the ice cream Kanji got him," Yosuke commented.

Kanji just shrugged, "Hey, it kept 'im quiet didn't it?"

Chie and Yukiko both stood up and excused themselves together. Naoto followed soon after being escorted by a bashful Kanji. This ended up leaving just Yu and Rise there.

"Yu, can you walk me home?" Rise asked grabbing onto his arm.

Yu replied, "I would be honored Miss Idol."

As the two of them left, Yu looked back and got one last look at the two strange guys. Rise caught his look back and decided to pry a little bit into what he had managed to overhear. "So, you seemed to be really interested in what they were talking about. What were you overhearing?"

"Sora, the spiky haired one, seems to have lost someone he cared about. If what I was overhearing was any indicator, she was some kind of lover to him. But it seems to have been recent because they have yet to have a real conversation about it," Yu replied.

Rise thought about this for a moment. "Senpai, would you feel the same if you lost me?" she asked puckering her bottom lip.

"No doubt about it, Rise-chan," Yu replied. The two of them stood silently in the elevator until Yu broke the silence again. "I am sorry I have to leave again tomorrow. I wish I was still here in Inaba."

Rise looked at him and replied, "Sometimes it feels unfair how much control parents have over our lives. But on the plus side, once I am settled back into my career I will be in the city a whole lot more. We'll get to see each other."

"Will you still remember me when you become a big successful idol that all the men will want to throw themselves down upon the ground you tread?" Yu asked mock distressed.

Rise smiled and replied, "While they may worship the ground I tread, none of them will ever be the one at the end of that long road. Not like you Senpai." The two of them considered themselves together though they knew the world at large would not be in that much of an agreement to such a scandalous idea. Rise was an idol and Yu was some nobody. Rise's image was only sellable with the image of being as obtainable as possible. That image goes away if people know that the idol is in a relationship. While their group of friends had some suspicions that they could be more than just friends, none of them pried to deeply into their private lives.

Yu cracked a smile when he could not keep the distressed act up anymore and replied, "You sure do know how to make a guy feel good about himself."

"Then my work here is done," Rise replied confidently. The two of them talked about this and that as Yu finally delivered her to the local tofu shop. "Well, here is my stop," she said sadly.

Yu nodded. The two of them looked at each other and then after a moment, Yu relented and finally said, "Goodnight, Rise"

"Goodnight, Yu."

Yu walked away leaving Rise at her door alone. As he walked, he became aware of footsteps following him. When he turned around he was surprised to see his underclassman had followed after him.

"Rise? What's going on?"

"Yu, in case we don't have time to see each other tomorrow I just wanted to tell you, I hope that you have a nice trip," Rise told him but she looked like she had more to say. He waited for her to be ready. "I-I just wanted to apologize for not being any help during the last incident. That I had to be saved by you all. I don't like feeling helpless and worse like I might be holding everyone back. I am not a skilled fighter or as good as that Fuuka girl. I am just so sorry."

Yu shook his head. "Rise, do you realize how much of a help you are to the group? The sheer number of scrapes we have survived because of your support? We don't need you to be some kind of fighting machine or like Fuuka. We all need the best you that you can be. Just like you have been," Yu told her passionately. He wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Yu," Rise said almost breathlessly. She stepped toward him and they both stood dangerously close to each other. "I… wish I could just be with you like this all the time. You give me clarity."

Yu swallowed and replied, "I know. Someday, this will be normal. But until then, we need to play this safe, right?"

"Yeah," Rise replied. She got on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Have a safe trip home, Senpai. I… love you."

Yu blushed hearing those words. It was not the first time he had heard them, nor did he think it would be the last, but it was always still just a little much to hear coming from the young woman in front of him. He considered himself lucky to have her. So, despite how bashful he could be, he would always say to her in return, "I love you, too. And have a safe trip back to the studio." The two separated and Yu was finally able to head back to his uncle's house where he would need to pack up for his journey home.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dante and Sora found themselves at the local shrine with nowhere to go. "Can't believe I am living on the streets here," Dante commented under his breath.

Sora nodded and said, "It is strange that there doesn't seem to be any kind of Heartless or Nobodies, or anything really going on here. Why are we here if there is nothing to solve?"

"Hey," Dante said rather forcefully. "Keep your head up. We will figure this out. Maybe we are waiting for the moment that it all goes down. We'll have to be on guard. So, we will do night watches and rotate every two hours."

Sora relented and replied, "Sorry. I'm just not dealing with this all too well."

Dante said, "I get that. You don't have to explain that to me. I have seen the before and after photo here."

Sora looked over when he heard leaves rustling. Summoning the keyblade to hand he was surprised by a particularly docile wild animal. The fox looked like it has some kind of handkerchief around its neck. It yipped and moved over to the shrine and gestured at the donation box.

Dante looked at this happening and simply said to the little creature, "Hey, I can barely keep the lights on at my own business. What makes you think I got donation money?" Sora accentuated that idea by turning out his pockets, keeping hold of the seashell good luck charm though he could not bear to look at it.

The fox looked at them both then sat down with what seemed to be a less than impressed look on its face. It then dipped it head under the edge of the box and then walked over to the two of them laid a small pile of money at their feet.

"You want to give this to us?" Sora asked.

The fox however yipped and dropped a picture and then curled up over it protectively. It then moved and Dante grabbed the photo. "You want us to protect the one in the photo?" Dante asked the fox. The fox nodded. "Well isn't that a coincidence. It's Yu," he said with a quiet amusement.

"How does the fox have a picture of me?" Sora asked trying to look at the photo.

"What?" Dante asked. He then shook his head and then showed the photo to Sora. "Not you. It is Yu. The guy we met over by the river earlier." Dante then turned back to the fox asking, "How do you know him?" The fox however, was already gone.

Sora picked up the money off the ground and looked back over at the shrine. "So that fox just paid us to protect this guy Yu Narukami?" Sora asked with uncertainty.

"I… don't know. Maybe?" Dante replied. "I thought you were the one who could talk to animals."

Sora just looked at him and said, "Every animal I could talk to, could also talk to you. I don't just talk to any animal and understand it." The two of them just looked at each other and finally Dante broke.

With a laugh, he said, "I just got paid for a job by a fox. How far down the animal food chain am I gonna go for jobs?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note Too: So couple of talking points. I have always seen that the Atlus team makes the Lover's Arcana always FEEL like the closest relationship their named protagonists go for. So Rise x Yu has been used to further enhance the changes in the story. Otherwise, the other things I wanted to bring up is Dante's inclusion in the story and the changes in his and Sora's characters.
> 
> Dante is the first person to be recruited by Sora's cause. He has felt the loss of Kairi after having grown attached to the three Daycare Kids. Especially in seeing how Sora is feeling. Sora is trying to be borderline emotionless right now as he is trying to not hurt. So if he feels a bit apathetic in this chapter, it is intentional. He will get better, but like with all wounds, it is going to take time. Otherwise, please enjoy.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: For any of you who are familiar with Ultimax, you will probably know that this chapter is rife with slightly changed details. But as the author, I am taking creative liberties! Hurray!
> 
> In another note: My apologies for the lack of updates. New job and sporadic scheduling has made having the energy or free time to work on this a bit... iffy to say the least. My goal is to get back to updating this no less than every two weeks to a month. Thanks for your patience.
> 
> ~Nox

Yu woke up well before dawn in his room at the Dojima residence. It was just a short while later when his TV began to make noises. Looking over at the screen he realized what it was that he was hearing. His TV was off but he was getting static. Soon the static turned red and the video that began playing was one he did not want to see. An advertisement style video detailing the Grand Prix. This time however it was being given the name P-1 Climax. All the usual contenders were there and Yu knew that this was not going to be easy to deal with. Labrys was in the real world, which meant that her shadow was not the one creating this image. He felt his phone ring in his pocket. When he answered, he heard a familiar voice.

"Yu, did you see that? What the hell-?" Yosuke said before the phone call suddenly cut off. Yu looked at his phone and saw the screen was dark.

"Hello?" he asked experimentally. Then the power in the house went out, followed by the rest of town. Shortly after, a red fog filled the town. "What happened? A massive power outage, red fog, a new Grand Prix, and all on day after two light fall from the sky? Relatable or not, those two needed to provide a bit of an explanation for themselves," Yu commented to himself. Grabbing the katana he had hidden with his things, he made his way out of the Dojima residence and found himself in a location that should not have been just outside the house of his uncle and cousin. As he began to look around, he found a gigantic red moon seemed to cast the whole environment in an eerie glow.

He hoped Rise managed to get out of town before this. She was scheduled for a really early train. Making his way through the town, nothing was the way it should have been. Locations were out of order and he could not navigate this place like he could before. Nearby, he found Junes. In front of the store was Chie. As he approached though, he knew immediately that there was something wrong. When she turned she had a look on her face that was uncharacteristic of the friend he knew.

"Oh, hey Yu. You seem a little worried," the fake Chie said snidely.

Yu looked at her warily and said, "Either you are an illusion being made to have Chie say some mean things to me, or you aren't actually Chie. Either way, I don't have time for this." Four red pillars surrounded the two.

"Well in that case, let's not waste any words," 'Chie' said to him. She dashed forward and swung her foot at him. He barely had time to bring the sheathed katana up in front of him. He felt himself become airborne from the force of the hit and as he came down he drew the weapon and got his feet under him.

"Persona!" Yu called out summoning Izanagi. The samurai wielding a massive naginata appeared behind him and it then dashed forward with blistering speed. 'Chie' jumped to the side, ducked and rolled to her feet. Practically flying across the arena with kicks flying, 'Chie' was suddenly within swinging distance of Yu. Izanagi intercepted the attack by placing its weapon between the kick and the one who summoned it. "Zio!" Lightning flashed from his Persona's free hand and zapped the green clad fighter. She went careening across the arena and crashed against one of the red posts. It looked like she was going to get back up but instead vanished.

"What was that about?" Yu asked out loud.

"Whoa! That was so weird!" Yu heard a familiar voice called out. Yu turned and saw the Chie he knew approaching. "You were great but it was really weird seeing you fight something that looked like me. I haven't seen that since… well when I got my Persona!"

"Chie, it is good to see you safe. Have you found any of the others?" Yu asked.

"No," Chie commented. "I got into a fight with a fake before I came here. You are the first person I found here."

"Good. And you haven't seen anyone matching the descriptions I gave yesterday either, right?" Yu asked.

Chie shook her head. "You think they're involved?"

"I cannot deny the possibility," Yu replied solemnly. "It is definitely suspicious that they showed up mysteriously the day before something like this happened. While I cannot say that my interaction with them would lead me to believe that they would be the cause of something like this, I also did not suspect Adachi until the last moment possible when it came to the murder case."

"Yeah, and to think we almost tried to punish Nametame," Chie commented disheartened. "Anyway, if we come across them, I am sure we will know the truth."

Yu however caught sight of something. "Speak of the devil and they shall appear," he commented. Approaching from the red fog was two figures. One with white hair, a red peacoat in the open position and a nylon guitar case. The other was a spikey hair youth with baggy pants and a large key resting on his shoulder.

"Yu Narukami? We are here on behalf of a common ally. You must be protected," Dante announced. "Come with us if you want to live."

The resulting silence was deafening. Dante looked around and realized that no one around him got the reference he tried to make. Sora was looking ahead and seemed to be getting wary of the duo in front of them. Meanwhile the duo ahead of them looked back at them and seemed to be very guarded.

Chie looked at them, back at Yu, and then back at them. "You will not take away our Leader!" Chie announced as she made her decision. A blue card floated before her and she did a swift spinning kick. This caused a large imposing figure to appear behind her. A yellow jumpsuit clad woman with black accented lines, a samurai fauld around her waist, and some kind of stylized biker helmet. However, the thing that most concerned Sora and intrigued Dante was the figure's double ended spear.

Dante reached back to the zipper of his nylon guitar case on his back. He pulled from the bag a larger-than-life greatsword with a stylized crossguard. "We don't want to fight," Dante said with a small smirk. "We are just here to fulfill a contract for a friend."

Chie however was in fightback mode. Dashing forward, Chie was followed by her Persona. Leaping up, Chie arced through the air with a leg forward. Dante leaned to the side and let her fly right by him. On the bottom of her feet, Dante noticed what appeared to be small metal plates. It was a clever little way to add some devastating reinforcement of her kicks, which were certainly impressive visually. It was in the follow up of her Persona that Dante had to perform a stylish flat spin to just avoid the amount of area it was taking up.

"Impressive. Let's see what else you can do with those legs," Dante taunted. This did seem to get Chie quite a bit more fired up. This also succeeded in getting Yu's attention and he began running forward. Sora however moved to intercept and locked his keyblade in combat with Yu's katana.

"Please," Sora pleaded. "We are here to help, Yu."

Yu looked at him with a hard gaze and with a faint hint of a blue aura replied, "Jury is still out on that." Suddenly, the young man was joined by a large figure himself. The Persona swung its blade in an upward trajectory. Sora jumped and redirected his own blade downward. He successfully blocked the attack, but he was now airborne and he felt a charge of electricity in the air around him. "Izanagi!" A crackle of electricity originating from the large warrior working at Yu's behest, turned into a variable storm of lightning flashing about in an impressive display. So bright that Sora seemed to disappear. However, a sudden explosion of energy knocked Yu away and forced his Persona to dematerialize. As the blinding display ended, Sora landed on the ground seemingly unharmed from the attack.

Meanwhile, Dante had planted his sword in the ground and engaged in some unarmed combat with Chie. Her kicks were every bit as impressive as Dante had suspected. After blocking the first few head on started to actually cause his arms to ache, he resolved to simply dodge or deflect. Her Persona seemed to be mostly kept back to help her block attacks that were meant to trying lightly punish any over zealous attacks. It was honestly one of the smartest fighting styles Dante had come across in a long time and combined with her natural strength for someone so young, he was thoroughly enjoying himself. However, the explosion nearby caught both of their attentions.

Yu was currently knock on his back. Sora was still standing. Dante noticed the sudden change in Chie's demeanor. The same protective urge he saw in Kairi when she tried to stop Vergil from attacking Nero. Nothing would keep her from trying to attack Sora now. However, if it were not for such a strong combat instinct warning him that this next attack would be devastating, Dante would have never done what he did next. He dashed towards his sword stabbed in the ground nearby. Shortly after, Chie ran at Sora. Dante grabbed his blade, rotating around the handle to redirect his momentum, and pulled it from the ground. He dragged it along behind him as he ran to get Sora out of the way of the incoming attack and to have the sword take the hit for him. Sliding to a stop behind Sora, Dante knocked him over to the side with just the momentum. It was at the last possible moment that his body transformed into his demonic form. Dante's Devil Trigger activated and he was immediately glad he did when he got the blade in front of the kick that came out of Chie.

"Galactic," Chie started, "Punt!" With a massive amount of energy forming a shockwave off the point of impact, Dante felt himself lift off the ground and time almost seemed to slow as his mind began to work faster in his Devil Trigger state. The ground beneath Chie had begun to crack and even though he had been pushed out of the way, Sora was still sent flying off to the side a short ways from the force of the impact. Even Yu was pushed, sliding further away from the fight. Finally, with a momentum he never thought possible from someone who was purely human, Dante flew backwards through the air having no real way to fight the momentum at this time. He was lucky that behind him was the department store because he flew through the wall and felt himself be dragged through several aisles worth of shelves before he finally slowed down enough to simply crater against the last one. His momentum finally gone, Dante let his limbs go limp and he transformed back while he assessed the condition of his body.

"Well, my back hurts," Dante commented idly as the event that just passed finally sunk in for him. "I look too young to be feeling this old." He started trying to pry himself out of the near metal cocoon he found himself stuck in at the time. "I hate being cratered into things. Have to find the necessary leverage to get back out. Sometimes it is easy like when that big dumb demon from Temen-ni-gru punched me into the floor. Then sometimes it happens like this." As he half-heartedly complained, he finally managed to pull himself back out of the rubble. Resting the blade on his shoulder he finally took steps to start leaving the store the way he came in, via the giant hole in the wall. "All this destructive force from just one kick? Well, this party's getting crazy now." When he got to the end of the rubble that his body had created, he had to blink when he thought he saw something from the distance. It was already gone and maybe it was an effect of the fog. But he was certain he saw a long gray-haired man in the distance in a dark coat for a brief second. Shaking the strange occurrence from his mind he looked down and saw the fight appeared to have come to a halt based on the lack of giant figures and a civil conversation happening below. Dropping down from the store, Dante joined the group and put the sword back in the nylon guitar case on his his back.

"I am so sorry about that," Chie exclaimed apologetically. "But how are you perfectly fine? I heard the crashing in there and it sounded rough."

"Not going to lie, my back is killing me now," Dante replied. "Also, I have never felt a force so powerful delivered by a regular human. How did you do that?"

Yu interjected, "The Persona. It is the manifestation of our will given to us through our egos. Chie seems to have a particularly powerful connection with hers since it enhances her physical capabilities. Now you on the other hand," he said referring to Sora. "How did my lightning not even affect you? I cannot sense a Persona in you like I do with her, so how did it happen?"

Sora put his hands behind his head and replied, "Well, I know magic. So when I realized I had no options to dodge the attack, I made a shield to defend myself." The group took a moment to regard each other until Yu finally broke the silence.

"So what did you mean when you said that you were here on behalf of a common ally?" Yu asked.

Dante seemed to deflate a little. "Ah, I'd hoped you wouldn't ask that. We were asked to protect you by…" Dante started. "I can't do this."

Sora interjected, "The little fox at the shrine asked us to protect you."

"Oh, glad to hear the fox is still there. How did you two get into contact with-?" Yu began to asked.

Dante interrupted him with the reply, "We slept there and when we woke up… well look around." He gestured to the red fog landscape in which they all found themselves. Dante turned towards the tower in front of the giant moon and then pointed. "We were trying to get there since it appeared with the fog. But the town seems to be all mixed up. We walked past the same building three times before we finally ended up here."

"It truly is a marvelous change," boomed a deep and powerful voice. "This fog has made an entire population disappear in an instant. Yet here there are people who have resisted this side effect. What could possibly provide the power to do this?"

Sora looked around then looked up at the rooftop of Junes and saw the person he thought would be there. "Xemnas! What are you doing here?" Sora called up.

"You have deviated far from your path, Warrior of the Realm of Light. We are not certain that you will be able to help with our goals in your current state. However, if you have been brought here, then we cannot forgo the potential of this world," Xemnas replied. "It seems that you are now down two Guardians of Light."

"Hey, you back off from the kid," Dante suddenly challenged.

Xemnas changes his glance from Sora to Dante. "Who are you to speak to me in such a fashion?" Xemnas asked, bored of the bravado.

Dante did not waver and replied, "You talk a big game, but I can already tell you don't have a heart, let alone a soul."

"And what do you know of hearts?" Xemnas asked.

"I know that when one is as heartless as you are, they aren't even half the man that Sora is," Dante said as he challenged Xemnas. He drew his blade out and continued, "You want me to give you a body to match?"

Xemnas however disregarded the idle threat. A red laser extended from his hand and he pointed it at Dante. It then launched at him and Dante swung his blade sending the laser attack in a different direction. "Maybe, you are right. But that still leaves me leagues above yourself. Sora, do not worry. We will continue to observe your progress," Xemnas assured him. "Do not disappoint us." Xemnas summoned a dark portal and disappeared within it.

Dante just looked at the place where Xemnas had been. "Didn't that guy's mother teach him how to shoot?" Dante said jokingly. However, seeing Sora looking at the ground he turned to him and asked sincerely, "You ok?"

Yu who was a little familiar with why Sora was feeling down asked, "Was he referring to the person you lost?"

Sora looked up at the two of them and finally replied, "I'm fine. Let's head to the tower. Maybe we can find out about what is going on there." Sora started heading towards the direction of tower. Dante shrugged and shook his head as he hid the blade back in the guitar case. Yu and Chie gave each other a concerned look and then followed behind.

* * *

Rise had been on the train ride back to the city when the red fog his the greater Inaba area and her train was halted on the tracks. She picked herself up off the ground and felt a small trickle of blood from her scalp where she had crashed into the seat across from her. Her head pounded a little but she needed to figure out what was going on. She went over to the door of the train then with a little effort pried it open and dropped down onto the side of the tracks. Looking down she saw the little trickles of blood on her shirt and huffed. That was going to be a pain to deal with later. The fog around her, despite its current color seemed to be very similar to the fog in the TV World. A world that was supposed to be separate from their own.

"Why is this happening?" Rise asked out loud. She clasped her hands together and felt a familiar presence within her begin to stir and soo she was able to summon her Persona. "Come forth, Himiko!" Her satellite faced Persona appeared behind her. Wearing a long flowing robe, the Persona lowered a red visor over Rise's eyes. Rise felt her senses spread out over the environment around her. She was soon able to sense all of her companions, however something was very wrong. It felt like they were all displaced, like the refraction of light in murky water. She tried to reach out to them like she normally did, but the fog seemed to be interrupting her ability to do it.

She cried out in frustration and fought to hold back tears. This was why she wished she were stronger. Fuuka could not only sense things without her Persona, she could do it from another world. Rise dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself as she continued to fight the tears that threatened to shatter her confidence. "Yu-senpai… what do I do?" Rise asked out loud to no one. It was then that she felt a strange thrum of energy. It seemed to come from her Persona, however Rise's vision began to blur and fade until she found herself enshrouded in darkness. As her vision cleared, Rise found herself on a broken beach. Looking around at her environment she saw a ocean and the island seemed to be desolate as though it were being torn asunder from the world around it. On that beach, she saw a blue haired woman laying down exhausted.

Then the blue haired woman seemed to suddenly become hyper aware and in an exhausted manner, leapt to her feet. Turning to the direction of the disturbance, Rise and this woman made eye contact. "Who are you?" she asked.

Rise replied, "My name is Rise Kujikawa. And you are?"

"My name is Aqua," answered Aqua. "How have you come to be here. Rise?"

"I don't really know," Rise replied honestly. "I was struggling to use my powers and the next thing I knew, I felt myself peering somewhere I am not sure I know anything about. My friends need me and I have no idea how to help them if my powers won't work."

Aqua looked at the young woman in front of her and could not help but nod at the sentiment. She became more relaxed and approached Rise. Placing a hand on her shoulder Aqua offered as sincere a smile as she could muster and said, "We all wish to protect those who are important to us. Especially, when we believe we should have the power to do it. I know that I too have struggled with this. What you are feeling now at this moment is normal."

Rise felt the tears welling again she suddenly wrapped her arms around the woman offering her comfort. "My friends are in danger, Miss Aqua. What can I do to save them from the things that threaten them? I am not a fighter, I can't fight alongside them. I hate being useless. I hate being weak. I hate that I can't be there for them," Rise sobbed into Aqua.

Aqua was shocked by how forward Rise was in this scenario but offered a hug in return if that was what the girl needed. "All of us have our limits. Perhaps, you need to learn to find a new path. Follow your true potential. Meet these hardships head on. I have been trapped in this realm for a long time. But I made a promise to myself. The next time someone wandered into the realm of darkness, I'd be here. A light to cut through all the shadows. I would be their wayfinder. Maybe this is why we were fated to meet. Reach out to your potential, take control of your fate. And let nothing define your limits, but you," Aqua told her with a genuine smile and a soothing tone.

Rise felt a shift within herself. "I have never thought about it like that," Rise commented out loud. Maybe there was something she could do after all. But she would need to think on that later. "Miss Aqua… you said you were trapped. How did that happen?"

Aqua sat down and stared out at the empty horizon across the body of water. "My friends and I were trying to stop a terrible darkness. However, in order to do that we all paid heavy prices. One of my friends has had his body stolen from him. Another has been placed into a deep slumber due to devastating damage done to his heart. And I sacrificed myself to try and save them, becoming lost here in the Realm of Darkness," Aqua explained. She was suddenly reminded of another strange happening while she was here and looked at Rise. "How is it that you have come to be here? What power do you have?"

Rise walked over and sat down next to her and said, "I have the power of something called a Persona. It's like a spirit that guards me. I earned it after accepting the parts of myself that I kept hidden from the world. It represents my resolve. My Persona is rather different from my friends' though. I am not designed to fight, I'm simply designed to communicate, scan, and analyze." Rise's tone became increasingly glum as she explained her powers. "All the good those abilities do for me. I am not even the best person at my special gift."

Aqua hummed in consideration. "So perhaps this is an opportunity for you to evolve then," Aqua suggested out loud. "You said that the 'Persona' came from you accepting yourself and it represents your resolve. If your resolve changes, then this spirit that protects you could change too, right?"

Rise looked over at Aqua who was staring out at the water again. "Maybe… you are right. If something needs to change then I have to be the one to change it," Rise thought out loud. "Can you ever leave?"

"I… don't know," Aqua admitted sadly.

Rise seemed to get steamed about that answer and replied, "But what about your friends? You must want to get back to them. In order to do that you have to be able to leave. I could never imagine losing the ones I have now."

Aqua nodded. "It has been the one thing that has been keeping me going these days. Unfortunately, I have lost my keyblade. So I am stuck waiting here until I can find a way back out. It has been lonely, to say the least," Aqua told her trying to not sound like she was on the verge of breaking.

"But..." Rise started to say but her vision began to go blurry at the edges again. "Aqua, I will make sure that you are found."

"How?"

"I don't know. But like you said, I have to adjust my resolve and maybe something with change. But I will do everything in my power to help you leave this place. I have to go now, but I will come back for you," Rise told her passionately. Her vision continued to blur and was now beginning to darken.

"I," was all Aqua could say before the scene faded from Rise's mind. Rise, mustering all of the resolve she could and finding herself alone in the Red Fog again, braced herself and called out to her Persona once again. "Come, Himiko!"

As Rise summoned her Persona, she thought of Aqua. The woman had found herself trapped in a world that was weighing down on her. But she was still determined to help anyone who ended up there with her. Rise looked up and with a look of fierce determination, took on a massive flaming, blue aura. Her Persona reappeared, but it was beginning to change in very interesting ways. For one, the face plate it wore seemed to separate from its head and behind it was a very beautiful and serious face. The headdress disappeared in a flash of blue and white leaving behind long red hair. Finally the dress her Persona wore turned into an airy sleeveless coat. Separating from its body were smaller satellite-like devices that levitated around her and each seemed to generate a shielding energy.

"Thank you," Rise said to Aqua though she was no longer there. "I will not let my friends down. This is my new power, and I will become the person they need. I am not helpless without them. And I will save you," Rise continued with a burning confidence. She looked to the sky and saw the tower in the distance in front of a giant moon. That was new so that would be where she would need to go. She ran in that direction. "Yu, I am coming to help."


	8. Singing in Key

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Hey guys, please know that no ships are happening here. Please enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Dante and Sora walked with their new allies. The world around them was a twisted mess of the city they had explored the day before. On multiple occasions they almost got separated just from tuning out their environment for a split moment. Sora was particularly quiet after their previous interaction with Xemnas. Yu and Chie had started discussing something about a TV World and its similarities to the situation they found themselves in at this point. It was not until they got close the tower however, that the group ran into a direct confrontation.

"Well, well, Partner. Seems you picked yourself one of the girls there," said a very darkly featured Yosuke. The group looked at him and it was clear that none of them were too impressed.

"We know you are not actually our friend," Yu said seriously. The clone simply dropped the act at that point.

"Then you know why I am here then," it said with a dark smirk.

Another male voice added, "Why _we_ are here." Stepping from the shadows were two more clones of the friends that Yu and Chie recognized as looking like Yukiko and Kanji. The group of four all took battle ready poses, however something caught the corner of Sora's eye. When he looked over he saw a very familiar dark coat walking away from the scene.

"Dante, I see an Organization XIII coat," Sora said.

Dante replied, "Go, I will help out here and catch up with you."

"We'll meet at the tower," Sora told him.

"Deal," Dante said and he drew his blade back out from hiding. Once Sora ran off after the dark coat in the distance, the red pillars suddenly locked the remaining six combatants in an arena to do battle.

"Dante," Yu called out getting the Demon Hunter's attention. "Will you take the bleach blonde one?" Dante looked over at the one to which he was referring. Bleach blonde hair pushed back and a leather coat wrapped around his shoulders. The skull and crossbones on his shirt was all Dante really needed to know about him.

"Tough guy, huh?" Dante asked out loud. He rested the blade on his shoulder and stepped forward. "Let's go, blondie."

'Kanji' leapt forward like a ferocious beast and with a folding chair in hand he slammed his weapon on Dante. Or at least he would have, had Dante not popped his arm in the way he had. The Royal Guard style completely mitigated the momentum of the fake Kanji. Dante let his blade disappear as it was then replaced by the chitin plated gauntlets and boots called Gilgamesh. As 'Kanji' began to descend from his mid-air, mid-swing pose, Dante charged his free hand and with a powerful punch sent his opponent flying.

Meanwhile, Yu and Chie both changed positions and Yu took on 'Yukiko' leaving Chie to fight 'Yosuke' in a fast paced one-on-one fight. Chie leapt forward to kick the fake Yosuke, who dodged to the side and kicking off the wall swung his twin knives at her. Chie ducked underneath the attack and as she stood back up straight summoned her Persona. Tomoe charged her opponent and 'Yosuke' continued to dash about avoiding the large entities attacks. Chie swung around the other direction launched herself into her opponent. The fake Yosuke flew backwards into Chie's Persona who hooked him with her arm and with an impressive spin, slammed him into the ground.

Yu had a bit of difficulty trying to approach 'Yukiko' because she could just keep throwing her fan at him and getting around them was a chore. He dashed to and fro. He then slid under a low throw and jumped over the follow-up. He tucked and rolled to his feet then made a quick dash at Yukiko while summoning his Persona. Taking a fan to the face, his Persona dashed past and a burst of lightning caused 'Yukiko' was sent flying back. Yu quickly hopped back to his feet and charged forward to kick the form of 'Yukiko' getting up.

'Kanji' dashed across the battlefield and leapt on Yu's back and slammed his fists into the back of his head. 'Yosuke' dashed around Chie and slashed at Dante who had been getting ready to pursue Kanji. 'Yukiko,' who had now been saved by the assistance of 'Kanji,' leapt to her feet and flung a fan at Chie. The mix up made everyone involved realize that this was going to be a very different kind of fight.

"You want to play tricks?" Dante asked with a dirty smirk on his face. "This stuff is what I live for!" Dante, with an inhuman burst of speed reappeared behind the fake Yosuke and in his hand was an icy cold tripartite nunchaku. Swinging the nunchaku, 'Yosuke" was flipped entirely over from the force. Dante was beginning to notice something though. He felt almost weakened from his usual powers since he had been fighting here. It was more than just the de-aging process at work. He would need to ask Sora. He followed up and spun through the air to slam the weapon downward on his enemy.

Yu managed to get out from under 'Kanji' but his vision was slightly blurred after the multiple blows to the back of his head. Izanagi dashed in between the two of them and knocked 'Kanji' out of the air during his second animal like leap. Yu got back on to his feet and held his Katana defensively as he and 'Kanji' walked around each other. 'Kanji' dashed forward and with the chair in hand swung like a mad man. Yu dodged each attack narrowly and then with a quick counter swing, 'Kanji' was forced off and then Izanagi swept across with the giant blade.

Chie had been forced on the defensive by the fans flying through the air. Either kicking them away or dodging them entirely. Yukiko was leaving her no room to try and make a move until she tried to charge forward to press the advantage. Chie saw both 'Kanji' and 'Yosuke' being handled well, she had to carry her own weight. With a gentle swaying of her torso, just like in the Kung-Fu she loved, she felt herself become calm as she seemed to weave through the fan onslaught and then with a powerful blow, reminding herself that this was not actually Yukiko, planted a massive kick to the fake's face.

With all three enemies handled the red columns disappeared. Yu sat down trying to get his bearings again after the beating he took. Nearby, he heard movement and when he looked he saw a concerned Yukiko approaching him. "Yu, are you alright?"

"Well that sounds too friendly to be an enemy," Dante remarked.

"Yukiko!" Chie cried out and embraced her friend. "You are ok!"

"Oh, Chie," Yukiko said embracing her friend back. "Have you seen any of the others. Not their clones but actually them?"

Yu who finally found himself getting back on his feet replied, "Just you two and our, uh guests." As Yu said the word guests, he gestured towards Dante. Dante realized that he was the one being referred to by that title.

"Well hey there lady. You can call me Dante," Dante introduced himself.

* * *

Sora chased after the dark coat in the distance for a long as he could. No matter how fast he moved they always seemed to be an entire road ahead of him. Following the figure at this rate was coming up as being a worse and worse idea. Finally, after a countless number of corners the figure disappeared from sight and Sora found himself lost somewhere in the twisted version of this sleepy little town. As he tried to get his bearings again, he found the tower on the horizon. How did it get in that direction? Nearby, he heard the sounds of combat. It sounded very different from the combat from earlier. Where the combat from before was bombastic, filled with sounds of exertion and the clashing of metal, the sounds of combat over here were almost like there was… music and rhythm?

Making his way in that direction, he was met with the sight of the four red pillars disappearing and a twin-tailed girl with a Persona. She was really cute. Sora did not really know how to describe it but it was similar to looking at someone who wanted to look like a princess, but dressed as a high school student. The Persona began to fade and the girl sank to her knees with a huff. As Sora approached with his keyblade in hand, she turned her head and suddenly leapt to her feet in a defensive stance. To Sora's surprise, she immediately relaxed her stance almost like she recognized him.

"You," she started and paused in a way that looked like she was trying to remember something. "You are Sora, right? Your friend is Dante?"

"Uh, yeah?" Sora replied uncertainty.

She smiled a brilliant smile and then walked over to him. "So you are one of the visitors Yu-senpai mentioned. My name is Rise Kujikawa."

"Oh," Sora remarked idly. "You all seem to be very aware that I am not from your world. Well I am doing a great job as a keyblade wielder. I just left your friends Yu and Chie."

"Are they ok? Also, Keyblade?" Rise asked. "Do you mean like the weapon that the lady Aqua told me about?"

"They were about to fight when I left. You know about Aqua? Is she here?" Sora asked. "We were supposed to find her so that she could help us stop the darkness."

Rise had a bit of a sad look on her face before she answered, "I only temporarily connected to her using my Persona. She says that she is trapped somewhere she called the Realm of Darkness. I spoke to her for a little while. She needs someone to get her out of there."

Sora nodded. "That all sounds about right. The King was supposed to go and get her with… Riku," Sora replied. "But I guess that job is mine now."

"Sora?" Rise asked tentatively. "Yu mentioned something about over hearing that you had lost someone. Was this Riku that person?"

Sora was quiet for a moment and Rise was afraid that she had overstepped her bounds. As she was about to apologize Sora finally spoke. "Riku is gone, I don't know if he is ever going to come back. But he wasn't the one who… died," Sora said as he held back tears. "Her name is… was Kairi. She was killed, trying to save Dante's nephew from his own father. On the world we were on before this one. Dante somehow managed to come with me to keep me from being alone. He is the only person I have left right now."

Rise felt the tears beginning to sting her eyes for this broken teenager in front of her. She held them back and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I am so sorry to hear that, Sora. I could never imagine being in your position. If there is anything I or any of my friends can do to help, I am sure we would be more than willing to do it. I know I certainly am. And I will help you find Aqua."

Sora looked up at her and for a brief moment he was reminded of Kairi. Strong willed, the desire to help others, and passionate about her friends. With a sense of renewed will, he nodded. "If there is anyway that you can help, I will not say no," Sora said with a lopsided grin. The two of them however were interrupted from this touching moment by a familiar, deep voice.

"Of course you would be attracted by the brightest lights of this world, Sora," Xemnas called out. Sora turned towards the long grey-haired man. "Our Leader seems to want to keep you around. However, your performance has been less than satisfactory. Perhaps I should just snuff your light out now."

The ethereal blades reappeared and Xemnas seemed to levitate off the ground from the sheer energy he was producing. Sora's Kingdom Key disappeared and reappearing in hand was a long, red blade. Guardian Soul was an imposing weapon but Sora mostly wanted to use it for the added reach. What he was not expecting, was Rise also letting off a decent amount of energy and summoning her Persona.

"Let's do this, Himiko!" Rise called and the Persona stood as sentinel over the two teens. Xemnas regarded the two for a moment and then dashed straight at them. As he flew toward them, he left in his wake, small blades to be launched as a follow-up attack, a strategy Sora was very well aware of from their previous bouts. Xemnas seemed to disappear as he approached and his follow-up attacks can just as scheduled. However, before Sora could react, Rise's Persona launched small orbs from its body and these orbs created a forcefield that seemed to nullify the attack. Xemnas, reappeared behind the two of them and Sora quickly rotated around slammed his keyblade into the side of his enemy sending him flying back a shortway. The orbs from before rotated around, then angled themselves in the upward position launching laser rounds that arced high up in the air. Had Xemnas not throw out a shielding orb, the attack would have made contact. Xemnas let loose a set of thorny strips of nothingness and as these thorns reached out towards their target, Sora slid through the air and dodged between the thorns. Sora closed the distance between the two of them and swung his keyblade several times, punishing his opponent. Sora may not have been as strong as he used to be thanks to the Mark of Mastery failure, but he still could read his opponent. Xemnas flew up a distance and landed on a nearby roof. Looking past Sora, he saw that the young woman who was with him had managed to back away far enough as to be unaffected by the attack. She was clearly not as experienced in combat, but she was sharper than she may have led Xemnas to believe based on her previous fight. He would back off for now and observe them both.

"Very well, so that is your answer," Xemnas mused. "Perhaps there is more fight in you than you have led me to believe, Warrior of the Realm of Light. You have my notice." A dark passage opened behind him. As Sora attempted to leap up after him, Xemnas disappeared into the portal behind him and it closed. Sora sat down on the edge of the building and huffed.

"No good, rotten Organization. Always running away when they lose," he complained as he lightly kicked his legs out as if his frustration was taking control of them.

Rise let out a deep breath as she walked over to the teen on the roof. "Organization?" Rise asked.

"They're a bunch of bad guys who have been going to the different worlds and trying to throw them into darkness. That group is half the reason I even end up in worlds like this and do what I do," Sora replied as he stayed where he was sitting.

"Throw them into darkness?" Rise asked, a concerned look overcoming her features.

Sora nodded. He then proceeded to explain to her what his goal was on the world. Why the darkness was a threat. The hearts of people, the hearts of worlds, the Heartless, and the Nobodies. As he finished his explanation, Rise had made her way up to the top of the building with the assistance of her Persona and had sat down next to him to listen.

Rise desperately tried to digest everything he had told her but it was so much new information. "I wish I could say I understood all of that," Rise said with a small shrug and a half smile. Sora shook his head.

"I don't think I understand all of it," Sora replied. The two of them sat quietly and after a few moments, Rise broke the silence again.

"So how does Aqua fit into all of this?"

"Aqua was a keybearer nearly ten years before I was," Sora replied. This surprised Rise based on the young woman she met not fifteen minutes earlier. "She and two other keybearers faced off against a man named Xehanort. Who is the leader of the Organization that we are fighting now. He has been grabbing ahold of his darkness from the past and using it to create his new members. He is the only person I know of that intimidates his Majesty and his teacher Master Yen Sid."

Rise just nodded. "I see," she commented. "I wonder what her skin care regimen is, because she looks amazing for being ten years in the Realm of Darkness."

"Can I ask you something then?" Sora asked her. Rise nodded. "Your friends mentioned something about a place called the 'TV World.' What is it exactly?"

"My turn to explain things I barely understand I see," Rise said with a small hint of amusement. "Well I guess that would require that I go back to the beginning. So to start with, Yu-senpai is not originally from this town. The first day he went to school here a body was found in town. A reporter woman who had been in a scandal. Only a week past it seemed when the girl who discovered her body was also found dead. Then people around here started disappearing for days at a time before coming back, changed. The thing that all of these situations have in common was the inclusion of the TV World."

"I see," Sora said following along so far.

Rise continued, "Well, when the people were disappearing they were being put into the TV World where we faced our shadows. Yu-senpai and his friend Yosuke-senpai had started saving people from that world when they realized that they could enter it. This was also how we all got out power of Persona. The shadows we faced were the hidden parts of ourselves that we kept hidden from the world. So when we denied them they would go berserk and attack us. If we didn't have anyone to protect us we would have ended up like the reporter or the student. It was filled with a thick yellow fog, which is why it reminds us of this situation we are in right now here in Inaba."

A familiar sound plagued Sora's ear as he thought about the explanation that Rise had just given him. The same type of sound when Nobodies appear. He leapt up to his feet and approaching on the rooftops nearby were Dusks. "Rise," Sora warned her. "We need to go." He held his hand out to her and she took it. With the help of Himiko, they both went to ground level and Sora began leading her towards the tower.

"Are those…?" Rise asked as they ran.

"Nobodies, yeah," Sora replied. The two of them kept running. "Let's keep moving, we'll lose them eventually." After a few minutes of running about, the two finally managed to find themselves safe. And now helplessly lost as they had stopped making progress towards the tower quite some time ago during the chase.

"This is so strange," Rise complained out loud. "Why does this have to happen, here?"

"I'll fix it," Sora said earnestly. "I promise."

Rise looked at him and the look on his face knew that she could trust him. Trying to give him as equally earnest and confident face replied, "If you do that, then I will come with you. Like Dante did. I promised Aqua I would find a way to save her, and I feel like I can keep that promise if I go with you."

In that moment, Sora was tempted to believe her.

* * *

Dante stood off to the side as the three teenagers started trying to figure out what was happening around there. He stared off into the distance hoping to see Sora's spiky hair silhouetted in the fog. Where was that kid? Dante knew that they had agreed to meet at the tower, but the direction he went would have taken him further from the tower which means coming back this direction should have been the fastest option. Maybe the figure in the coat got the better of him?

"Dante?" he was suddenly asked, tearing him from his thoughts. Looking at the source, he saw Yu standing near him. "You worried about Sora?"

"Maybe," Dante replied.

"I wouldn't," Yu said with confidence. "If Sora can stand by you and the two of you can stand toe-to-toe with us, then nothing out there should be any threat to him. Let's go to the tower." Dante nodded. With one last look back in the direction Sora had walked off in. He joined Yu and his friends to continue going towards the tower. The twisted town was slightly irritating Dante now that he was worried about Sora and surrounded by strangers.

"So, Dante-kun you are from another world, correct?" Yukiko asked.

"Kun?" Dante asked back.

"Do you not have honorifics where you are from?" Yukiko asked, more curious than before.

"I mean, we have titles like Mister or Sir, I guess," Dante replied. "But yes, I am from another world." Dante looked over at the girl he was speaking to and really observed her a moment. She was the same as the clone they had fought before but the way she carried herself was completely different. Elegant was the word that came to mind. This caused him to look down at his coat and seemed to get self-conscious about the fact that the coat was wrong.

Yukiko however observed his pulling at the red peacoat and asked, "Do you not usually wear peacoats like this?"

Dante shook his head. "No, I usually wear a trench coat but, it seems to have disappeared on me. Or off of me, I guess," Dante explained. "Something about ending up here made it go away, but something is better than nothing."

"How does ending up somewhere make your clothes disappear?" Chie asked incredulously. .

Dante shrugged and said, "I asked the kid the same thing when we got here and he said something about his keyblade trying to make us blend in some."

"The kid?" Yu asked. "Just how much older are you supposed to be?"

"I would guess 30 years? I don't know exactly how deaged I got. I just look like a teenager now, it is weirding me out," Dante guessed with a basic explanation. "I guess it all comes down to whatever we have to do to blend in around the worlds we end up in."

"Blend in?" Yukiko asked.

Dante hummed in affirmation. When it was clear that they wanted more of an explanation he continued, "Sora mentioned something to me about something he calls World Order and that we as visitors are not to meddle in the affairs of other worlds. To be honest, from what I can tell we are supposed to make the world follow the events it is supposed to take and prevent outsiders from manipulating it."

"So if you're here, then it is really important," Chie summarized.

Dante just replied, "If it is going to involve people like that guy from earlier then I am sold on stopping them. Hell, I'll greet them with the end of my sword." Dante drew his sword out of the guitar case and pointed it straight forward. Almost as if on cue, he found himself surrounded by four pillars as his three companions were ejected from the area. Looking around he saw a familiar spiky hairdo.

"So, this place has learned to make a Sora clone too, huh?" Dante asked.

'Sora' looked up at the demon hunter a keyblade in his hand. "So it seems," he said with a very uncharacteristic smirk. "You messed up before with Kairi… So how would you like to beat me and live through a second failure?"

Dante knew it wasn't Sora, but that comment stung quite a bit more than he would have ever admitted. He did feel personally responsible for what happened to Kairi. It had been his plan that they followed that put those three in the line of fire and it had been his brother who killed her. "Look if you were actually Sora, that would be fair. But you're not, so watch your tongue before I help you lose it," Dante threatened with a light tone.

"Raw nerve? Would be a whole lot easier if you never knew us, huh?" the fake continued to taunt. Dante's eyebrow twitched at the comment. He could not deny that none of this would be happening if those three kids had not fallen into his life. But on the other hand…

The picture of Kairi in his pocket however was something important to him now. His earning the trust of Riku was important to him now. Being on this adventure with Sora and learning the truth about the universe as he knew it was important to him now.

Dante dashed forward and swung his blade through the air and 'Sora' put his keyblade up to block. "I will never regret meeting the daycare kids. You will not disrespect Sora with your heinous mockery. You make me sick," Dante said angrily. He followed through with his swing and sent the clone flying. Bouncing off of the invisible barrier, the fake Sora rolled back to his feet and charged towards Dante. The kingdom key swung through the air and Dante dashed sideways away from the attack. He jumped up and dashed again as 'Sora' ran across the ground trying to swing at the places he was previously. One swing almost connected and then Dante caught the blade and planted his foot into the fake Sora's chest. Flying back against the invisible barrier, 'Sora' fell down onto the ground. "You have his face. You don't have his heart!" Dante threw the keyblade at the copy and it slammed into him. The copy looked at Dante as it began to fade.

"Why? Why do you care so much?" The fake asked.

Dante leaned on his weapon and replied, "I protect humanity. Those kids were as human as they come. The fact that their goals aligned with mine gave me an opportunity to learn about what humanity looks like off my world. I will not stop. If you are going to try to stop me from being with them, then your life is forfeit."

The fake faded away and Dante was released from the arena. The three teens had apparently been joined by another one of their friends as the one known as Yosuke ended up with them.

Yu approached Dante and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Dante said coolly.

Yukiko approached and asked, "What was that clone talking about?"

Dante knew that this was going to come up. He reached into his pants pocket and showed her, which by extension meant the rest of the teens there, the photo he snapped of Kairi. "Wow," Chie commented. "She's really pretty."

Dante finally got the photo back and mentioned, "She is the one that Sora is mourning. Sora came to my world with two friends. Kairi, the one in the photo and his friend Riku." Dante turned away from the group as he looked back in the direction that they had come from. He knew Sora would be fine physically, but emotionally he was still a live wire. "To be honest, I am mourning as well. She was a pure light in the darkness, unlike anything I have ever seen. But for Sora, she was so much more."

The group was quiet for a moment as if expecting more. But for the time being, Dante had said his piece.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note Too: Well that was a nice little moment at the end. I like humanizing Dante. I think he wears it well.


	9. Break Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> o since he is here now... I think it is time I explain a bit of my complicated history with Sho Minazuki. I don't really have much of a problem with him as a character, but more of what he ends up representing with the Persona Canon... which is a REALLY complicated problem. For one, I don't think that he was a strong enough character to carry an entire game on his own as a villain/victim of the true villain. I don't think that he is a bad character by any means, however, I feel that he did not need an entirely separate game. That being said, I have made a small change to how this story goes down, but it was not important enough to outline in the actual story. So all his Persona Shards were collected from the first incident and there has been an incubation period. I always disliked that his power in this game is to create shadow copies that have actual Personae since Persona Shards could only be made by Personae fighting each other. The Persona is aspects of your personality, so a shadow copy of a person being able to have its own fully functional Persona is just over-powered. Especially since it kinda removes the importance of the residents of the Velvet Room, the act of facing oneself, the existance of the Collective Unconsciousness, and even the Plume of Dusk requirement for the Androids. And that is why none of the clones have used a Persona. Anyway, that is how this story has changed. Back to your regularly scheduled storytelling.
> 
> Enjoy!

* * *

"Welcome to the Investigation Team, then," Yosuke announced enthusiastically as the group got ready to continue traveling towards the tower. "It is pretty cool having a world traveling, demon hunting badass on our team. We'll settle this matter even faster then." As they approach the tower it became apparent to the teens that this place used to be where their high school had been. "Although, I am not sure why this got advertised as the Grand Prix again, we haven't really had to fight each other just fake copies."

"You know, it does feel like we have not been actively messed with like we had been before when Labrys's shadow was running the fights," Yu acknowledged out loud. "But it is also happening out here in our world, which means that I don't think that it can be purely shadow related. That just leaves…"

"Something like that Ameno-sashimi thing again? Or the Izanami-origami lady?" Chie asked aloud.

Yukiko made a noise that was strange to Dante. Like it was restrained and hidden as best she could manage. He could hear Yosuke start to say something like he was foreboding what was to come.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, Chie you are so funny!" Yukiko suddenly howled with a hyena-esque laugh. "They-They were called Ameno-sagiri and-snrk-and Izanami-no-Okami!" Her laugher continued to ring as both Chie and Yosuke began to shake their heads.

"Yukiko, it isn't that funny," Chie commented, clearly embarrassed.

Dante however was more confused than anything else. Noticing his confusion Yosuke explained, "Little miss heiress here has a bit of laughing fit problem. Once she goes off, there is no calming her down until she rides it out."

"Cute," Dante said and continued toward the tower which was now becoming very clearly not a regular tower. When he realized that he was not being followed, he looked back to see that her laughing fit continued on. She really was hopeless in this state. So he plopped himself down on a nearby bench and let her have her fit. As he waited he finally asked aloud, "This Grand Prix thing you keep mentioning, what exactly was it?"

"It was this weird fighting tournament hosted by a homicidal shadow of a robot designed to manifest a Persona and fight shadows," Yosuke explained. "We came with titles and everything."

"But it was entirely in the TV World last time?" Dante asked.

"Yeah, why?"

Dante leaned back on the bench further as he thought out loud. "And it was hosted by a robot?"

"A robot's shadow, specifically," Yu corrected.

"Well," Dante started. "No, I thought I had something, but I got nothing."

"Welcome to the club," Yosuke said with a shrug. "We got special membership glasses, if you want 'em."

"Sure, whatever you say," Dante said as he walked over to the group. Yosuke put the glasses up to Dante's face and he knew something was off immediately. When Yukiko looked at him, her laughing was renewed and Dante understood. He reached up the glasses on his face and felt the nose piece. He calmly took them off, put them in his pocket, and simply said, "I don't think they go with the jacket."

Yukiko tried to speak as she held her stomach, "I don't know, ha ha ha ha. It looked pretty good to me." Her laughter continued but as it kept going, Dante could not help but get the smallest of smiles on his face. Maybe someone with laughing fits was exactly what the group needed. It sure was a tension breaker.

As Yukiko finally calmed down, the group made their way over to the base of the tower and once they were there two things became readily apparent. The first was that Sora was not here. The second was that the bright red hair of the person sitting on the stairs with two katanas in hand was very clearly not happy to see this group approaching.

"Well, well. When I found out that there were people interfering with my plans, I was not expecting it to be people beyond the usual suspects. That… annoys me," the fiery headed young man said to the group coming toward him.

"Who are you? And why are you doing this to our town?" Yu demanded.

"Well that's rude," was the reply. "You come to my tower and make demands of me? All I want is to have my wish be granted and you are here interfering with that. So, Yu Narukami maybe if you ask me nicely, I'll give you an answer."

"How do you know my name?" Yu asked suspiciously.

"You spoke with Labrys a lot didn't you? Pretty much anything she knew from her time in the TV World I now know," replied the abrasive young man.

Chie then said, "You were the person who took control of her weren't you?"

"Very good," he replied. "A lot smarter than you look, Chie. Sho Minazuki at your service. And you four are the founding members of the Investigation Team and now Kirijo Lackeys. See, I don't like that. I also don't like the snowy hairdo that is following you around. Unaccounted interference really makes my blood boil, y'know?"

"Well the irritation is mutual," Dante replied. Sho looked at him and his eye twitched.

"Anyway, trust the leader of the Investigation Team to find another shoulder to lean on. Your dependency on your bonds is so predictable," Sho said getting up onto his feet.

Dante however was the one to respond, "Look, if you want to just lay down your weapons and let this end, I can forgive you for irritating me. If you don't, then you'll make a swell punching bag."

Sho's eyes suddenly took on a red hue and his scar began to glow the same color. "I would not make threats so idly while you stand there outmatched and out-witted. Afterall, I am the one with all the cards in my favor. You will not stop me from granting Sho's wish," Sho said. His words however were very different from the angry young man they were talking with before. It was almost as if he were an entirely different person.

Sho began to turn around and walk back into the tower and no one moved to stop him. Or rather, no one could move to stop him. "Well that was a friendly meeting," Dante remarked sarcastically once he was able to move again. "Strange power he has there, locking me in place like that."

"So it affected you too?" Yu asked.

"Sheesh, what is that guy's problem?" Chie demanded.

Yosuke shrugged and said, "He mentioned something about us being Kirijo lackeys? Also did he call us founding members of the Investigation Team? How does he know about us and the things we have done?"

"There is a lot that we don't understand yet," Yukiko lamented.

"Well no use sulking," Dante said as he approached the tower. "C'mon, we have a job to do and not a whole lot of time to do it in. Sora will have to play catch-up."

"I can wait here to make sure he knows to go in," Chie offered. "Besides, if anyone unsavory has been following us, we'll want to make sure we cover our trail."

"Stay safe, Chie," Yu said worried for his friend.

"I'll stay with her," Yosuke said. "Two will be better than one and we can watch each other's back."

Yukiko gave a relieved smile and commented, "That would make me feel better about Chie staying behind." The plan was settled and Dante went with Yu and Yukiko. Chie and Yosuke took their place on the stairs to act as a rear sentinel.

"You got some good people with you," Dante said as the group made their way into the tower. However their progress was almost immediately impeded by a duo unfamiliar to Dante. But one of its members definitely seemed to know the Investigation Team members.

"Yu-kun! Yukiko-chan!" Cried the silver haired robot. Dante did a double take.

Yukiko noticed Dante's clear hesitation and explained, "Oh, Dante this is Labrys. She is a machine that was made for battling the shadows that we face in our normal adventures."

"Wait," Dante started, clearly getting ready to do some nutshelling. "So before Yu and Chie explained to me that you guys got your Persona in situations where you had to face yourselves and get a sense of oneness and all that. Projecting your egos in the form of the Persona to show your powers. You trying to tell me that all of this is true of a robot? No offense."

"None, taken," Labrys said as she finished hugging her friends. "To be honest, I had a real hard time coming to terms with it, too. I tried to deny it to myself even delusioned myself to the point of believing I was student at their school when I ended up in the TV World. It had been a dark time for me. Who are you by the way? You're new." Labrys offered her hand.

Dante shook her hand and introduced himself, "Name's Dante. I am helping out the Investigation Team. Who is your associate back there?"

"Oh yeah," Labrys remembered. "Yu, Yukiko, Dante, this is one of the Shadow Operatives. They're friends of mine as well. This is Yukari."

The girl now known as Yukari was dressed in some kind of pink jumpsuit. Like one of those kid shows that Dante was pretty sure he had seen advertised in his own world. Guess other worlds did develop in similar ways. She looked down at the group, her gaze lingered on his jacket for a few moments and a serious smile was the best way to describe her expression. "Labrys, I would probably prefer that you did not be so familiar with strangers that you offer up my name at a moments notice."

"Strangers? Besides Dante these people are my friends. They were the ones who helped me out in the TV World. Remember I told you," Labrys said. Dante could not help but notice her accent. It was interesting, Dante was almost certain that the people around him were probably speaking a different language normally. Guess the magic that helped him fit in as a teenager also helped with language barriers. Lucky him.

Yukari walked down the flight of stairs to the group and said, "Well to you two, we at the Shadow Operatives thank you for helping our Labrys out."

"Not to pry, but if you are part of the Shadow Operatives, why don't I recognize you from the TV World job?" Yu asked.

"I am a reserve member of the operatives. So unless the matter is a pressing issue I am usually left to my own. I would have changed, but this situation developed too quickly and I had to get off the Featherman Set as soon as possible," Yukari explained with some slight difficulty. She seemed to be having some difficulty with Yu. He was soft spoken for the most part but was a truly intense and direct conversationalist. To Dante, he could at least understand her issues with someone like that if she did not have the personality that could deal with that directly.

"Of course, we got taken off guard as well. And it is good to meet you," Yu said to her with a small smile. Yukari seemed to then have difficulty even just keeping eye contact with him. It was an interesting interaction to say the least.

Dante was still in need of a piece of information that maybe these Shadow Operatives might have had available to them. "Labrys, Yukari. Do you Shadow Operatives know anything about something called a Keyhole. As in a important magical thing that may be super important to the existence of the world?" Dante asked. He then seemed to reflect on what he just said and muttered, "Why does that sound so much better coming from Sora?"

"Where did you hear that term?" Yukari asked, clearly surprised.

Dante looked at her and realized that her response was not skeptical but made because she recognized it. "Well I am traveling with a kid who has a weapon called a Keyblade that can be used to lock that Keyhole. He wants to protect the heart of the world. That is sort of what he and I do," Dante explained.

"Help me save Mitsuru, and I will make sure that we share all of the information we have on that topic," Yukari told him.

Dante liked to hear that. With a knowing smile, he said, "A job for payment. Well then lady, you got yourself a hero."

* * *

"So, how do you plan on going about fixing these issues," Rise asked. "The Heartless and Nobodies, I mean."

"I have to find the keyhole of your world, the world's heart is open to being attacked by darkness. But if it can be locked, the world can be safe for the time being and their interest in it should go away," Sora replied confidently. "It has always worked."

Rise was glad to hear that. Her mind having been eased on that topic though her thoughts then wandered back to two things. Aqua, the woman stuck in the Realm of Darkness and Kairi, the teenager she has not met whose death has still touched her through the young man who showed up on her world. Rise just wanted to know everything about what happened and what she was like. She could not imagine what it would be like if she lost Yu or her friends. Or if they had lost her. Though it did make her wonder further, if Sora exuded this kind of light during a time of such sorrow, what was he like before?

"Sora," Rise asked. "Where do you come from?"

Sora looked back and seemed to be surprised from her perspective. "You want to know about my home?"

"Yeah, I would," Rise replied with a tender smile.

"Not too many people have asked me about that," Sora said more to himself. This brought a frown to Rise's face as she was not really sure why people would not want to know about it. "Well my home is a place called Destiny Islands. I am told by people that is a really beautiful place, but to me it was just home. They are a series of islands, though we lived on one and had another where us kids would go to play. There was even a little cave we would go and do these cave drawings. When we were young… oh man, those cave drawings," Sora paused for a moment. "When we were young, Kairi showed up on our islands. We never knew where she came from back then, but it got our friend Riku thinking. So almost two years ago we decided to build a raft to try and leave our little world. But if you like the beach, it is a nice place. Someday I hope I can go home and just stay there for a bit."

Rise listened carefully and watched his face as he talked. The pause she knew had to do with the fact that he had brought up his two friends and something about cave drawings. But the little sparks of happiness that ignited for short bursts in his expression were worth it. "It sounds amazing," Rise said. "I hope I can see it someday."

"If you can, I'd be glad to show you around," Sora said with a smile. "So you are a student?"

"Yes, but I am also an Idol," Rise explained.

Sora tilted his head and asked, "What do you mean? What's an idol?"

"You really are from another world, huh?" Rise said in a tone that sat between awe and disbelief. "Well an Idol is a profession in our world as part of the entertainment business. My job is to sell my personality, looks, and talent to inspire the youth and sell products. It's a fun but demanding job at times. I was actually headed back to big city to continue my work when this red fog rolled in and disabled the train."

Sora nodded. He looked like he had questions but never took the time to speak them out loud to her. Rise decided that this little back and forth of questions was a good way to keep him open, "So which world was your favorite to visit?" Rise asked.

Sora thought for a moment. "Hmm, let's see. I think as far as good memories go, there was a world inside of a book. It was the 100 Acre Wood and there was this bear named Winnie the Pooh there who loved to eat honey. It was a really peaceful place and the people there were really genuine, but simple. And simple is a good thing to me since my life has become so complicated," Sora answered. Rise nodded as she listened. Sora then turned and asked her, "You mentioned Yu earlier. How do you know him?"

"He is my senpai," Rise said but the immediate look of confusion Sora made got her to elaborate with, "He is my upperclassman in school." Sora nodded as that made sense to him. So Rise now knew that his home had a school system. "He was also the leader of our group we called the Investigation Team. When a series of murders and disappearances happened, he and our friends Yosuke and Chie began saving people from the TV World and the shadows which started with Yukiko and then moved on to the rest of us." Sora listened intently. The two continued walking.

Rise needed to keep him talking because it was distracting him more and more. Therefore, becoming the realest version of himself. "So, what were you like as a kid?" Rise asked him with a sneaky little look while his back was turned.

"Well, I was a bit of a troublemaker actually. Nothing malicious really, but I was constantly looking for adventure, even telling a few tall-tales to get people to try to believe me. The only ones who would were the kids. Riku especially, we must have gone into the Secret Place so many times because of a windy day or something like that," Sora admitted to her.

Rise gave a giggle at his description of his antics. "That is adorable, wish I was anywhere near that interesting as a child. I was mostly just a little quiet. I got bullied as a child which was part of why I wanted to try becoming an Idol. Give people the hope and strength to deal with their own, y'know?" Rise told him. The two of them seemed to get lost in their conversation and if it had not been for a loud Hot Rod Heartless, the two of them may not have noticed the attack coming after them.

"Ah! Demon cars!?" Rise suddenly called out.

Sora summoned his keyblade back to hand and struck a battle ready pose. "These are Heartless. Keep an eye for them. This variety will try to run you down if you don't deal with them fast enough." Sora explained to Rise quickly. He hoped to himself that he was at least strong enough to deal with them still since he lost so much progress to the Mark of Mastery Exam. The three cars all leapt in at the two and in a strange moment of clarity for the two of them, Sora felt something he had not felt for some time. The co-operative power of a Limit Attack. Rise summoned her Persona and her Microphone stand appeared in her hand. Sora's stance widened as he stomped his foot down and a wave of energy exploded out from them. The orbs launched out of Rise's Persona and they fired beams straight up into the sky, Sora disappeared and appeared above her. As the beams were fired up, Sora deflected them directly at the Hot Rod enemies. The force of impact launched the enemies into the sky. Sora then dashed through them and Rise directed the orbs to produce their shields and Sora leapt off of them to continue the dash until finally, they found themselves back to back. With a rhythmic dance step to a song sung by Rise and Sora mock playing guitar on his keyblade, the final wave of energy made the Heartless dissolve. The two of them were quiet for a moment and then the excitement was too much for Rise to bear.

"That was so coool!" she cheered with a girlish squeal. "How did we do that?"

Sora shrugged and replied, "To be honest I am not entirely certain. It is just an ability I have found out with the various allies I have traveled with in the past."

"Well it was still so awesome!" Rise exclaimed again bouncing in place in a fashion similar to her friend Chie.

"That was pretty tight!" another voice cheered. Both Sora and Rise both turned towards the source to see a man in a baseball outfit. He had a light layer of hair on his chin and a lopsided smirk, His eyes fell on Rise's face and his jaw dropped. "Whoa! You're really Risette?" the man said suddenly.

"Risette?" Sora asked.

Rise sighed and replied, "My stage name from my idol job. Who are you?"

"The name's Junpei Iori. I am a member of the Shadow Operatives. I had heard you were apart of the previous operation," Junpei explained. Sora could see a bat in his hand and it reminded him of the kids back at Twilight Town. Thinking further Sora decided to toss out a thought.

"Hey, have your guys heard of someone named Riku? Long hair, bad attitude sometimes?" Sora asked.

Junpei shook his head. "Can't say that I have, but he sounds like someone we used to know," Junpei responded. "Why you looking for him?"

Rise looked over at Sora with a sad look. Sora was looking for Riku and he needed his friends. "They got separated before this all started," Rise explained. "Who is this person who sounds similar?"

"An old ally of ours back when we still in High School. His name was Shinjiro Aragaki. Walking attitude problem, longer hair though he stuffed it in a beanie even during the summer apparently. He uh- died," Junpei explained. "Also sorry about you missing your friend. I hope you find him." Sora nodded as he seemed to compose himself more. "By the way, do you guys know where my friends are being held? Some of our members got 'napped and we know they ended up back here thanks to Labrys."

"Labrys told you about this?" Rise asked suddenly. "Does that mean Akihiko and Mitsuru are the ones who…?"

"Yeah," Junpei filled in for her. "Man, I had to leave Little League practice to come and help with this so, I am so lost here. You think maybe you could help with getting over to that tower? Cause that is the only place I could think makes sense based on Tartarus."

Sora had at this time seemed to tune out the people around him as he turned back towards the tower. If the keyhole was going to be anywhere, that place had to be involved. However before he could think further, he found himself surrounded by red pillars locking him in place with a shadowy figure in a red coat approaching.

"Well, well. You still feeling sorry for yourself?" the form of Dante asked him. "Seriously, just get over it kid. You can't keep expecting to garner sympathy people if you don't show any desire to move on." Sora felt something begin to crack inside. He knew this was not Dante. But in his mind, he was having a hard time separating the fact from fiction. "Well? Cat got your tongue? Say something. Anything. What's wrong?"

Sora felt his jaw stiffen as the crack inside began to grow. The sadness was quickly being replaced with anger. Soon, the anger started to turn to rage. His breathing grew labored and ragged. Looking at the fake version of the person he considered his friend, his vision began to blur at the edges. "You want to stop talking," Sora said menacingly. The fake Dante seemed taken off guard by such an aggressive remark.

"Sora! He isn't real!" Rise called out to him. "If you defeat him, it will go away and you don't have to hear these terrible things anymore!"

Sora felt wisps of energy begin to rise off of himself. Closing his eyes for a moment he tried to calm down. But the crack inside grew further despite his attempts. When he looked up at Dante, his eyes had taken on a strange shade of yellow. But they also pulsed with a red energy. The fake Dante looked unimpressed and said, "Is this supposed to be threatening? Why don't you just lay down your Keyblade and let me end this for you quickly. No more curse, no more pain. Just give up."

In this moment, Sora snapped. Leaping forward, he felt the rage in his heart begin to take over and the darkness associated it tainted his visage as he was covered in darkness to the point of draining the color from him and his clothes. An entity of practically complete darkness now leapt through the air and the keyblade in his hand was also consumed in this darkness. "No! You're wrong! I will never let go of them. Riku or Kairi! The three of us will survive this! We will make it home together! And if you are going to get between me and them, then I will take you down!" The fake Dante and darkened form of Sora locked blades together while while Rise watched from the sidelines shocked by what she was seeing. This was what Sora looked like when his light went away. It was awesome, but terrifying at the same time. It was possible that Sora really was some kind of world saver. However, Rise could tell in this moment that he needed someone to save him. It reminded her of Yu when he almost killed Nametame by throwing him in the TV. Yu had his friends with him them which brought him a certain sense of clarity. Sora however felt alone. Desperately alone. He shouldered such a tough destiny and until this point his friends had been with him. Rise however could not look away from the monster that Sora held inside. Much like her friends, everyone had the things they hid away. He needed someone to see it and understand right now. So she would see all of it.

'Dante' tossed Sora off to the side and went on the offensive or at least that was what he would have done had Sora not flipped his feet down below him in an inhuman level of dexterity and launched himself forward again planted the keyblade into him. Flipped over backwards from the force, 'Dante' leapt off his back back to his feet and performed a stinger to try and catch Sora off guard. Sora quickly rotated around and with his keyblade vertically perpendicular to the ground and Dante's blade, parried the attack off to the side and then lashed his free hand out to grab his opponent by the throat.

"You know nothing about me!" Sora yelled slamming the cross guard of his keyblade into the fake's face. "You know nothing about the things of seen! The places I have been! The people I have saved! The people who have saved me! The people I have fought!" Every point was emphasized by another blow. "Don't you tell me anything like you know ANYTHING!" The last point was particularly brutal as Sora let go of the fake with the last swing sending it flying back. The fake remain unmoving against the invisible wall of the arena. It then looked at Sora one last time. Sora began to realize how he must have looked at the pitying look the fake gave him and its lips began to move at it finally faded.

"Then maybe it is time… you let someone know," it said through labored breaths and finally it was gone. Sora felt the darkness begin to clear as he fell to his hands and knees with tears in his eyes. He had no idea what he just did or where it came from, but he had lost control. And that scared him more than anything else in the world at that moment. He flinched when he felt a hand on his back. Looking over at Rise, he saw the concern painted on her face. He looked down ashamed but all she did was hug him.

Meanwhile, Junpei was at a complete loss of words. Everything that had just happened at caught him completely by surprise and he was now left speechless at the display he just witnessed. He would have to bring this up to the Shadow Operatives. This situation just got a whole lot more complicated. But if he knew anything, it was the life was not done throwing curveballs. The sudden appearance of a woman dressed completely in Blue confirmed that for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note Too: Don't take my first note too seriously. I just wanted to make sure people understood why the changes were made, but it never felt right to include in the actual writing as just a general writing practice.


	10. Aria of the Broken

For Elizabeth, the white haired, yellowed-eyed, blue-clad Velvet Room attendant, the appearance of the two mysterious figures known as Dante and Sora had not escaped her attention. Since her days in the Velvet Room serving her master Igor and assisting her guest, she had always been interested in the affairs of the human world. It was practically her job. Since her guest was now indisposed, potentially permanently, she was extremely interested in the potential solutions that could be provided by the world outside her little Blue proverbial jail cell and she ventured out into parts unknown. Recently, a Shadow Incident had brought her attention to a sleepy little town called Inaba where she found not one but two potential solutions to her problem. Unfortunately, both of them seemed to be lacking in the type of power she was needing to utilize to save her guest. When it looked like it was going to be a wasted trip, what should she find but a young man in possession of a great and powerful artifact.

How lucky she was to find him before she left otherwise she may have missed the opportunity altogether. Elizabeth had heard of the weapon known as the Keyblade before though she could not place exactly where. When she approached her siblings about it, they had the same suspicion that they had heard of it too, though they could not recall where or when. However, if she had heard of it, and Margaret had heard of it, and Theo had heard of it… then the only places they could have heard of the artifact were from either their master, or his powerful friend and creator, Philemon.

So Elizabeth approached her master with a direct request for knowledge. Her question had intrigued him. His otherwise mysterious nature may have kept Igor from answering questions in the past, but as though this were an interesting experiment for the future, he decided to impart the wisdom on the topic that he had. Elizabeth remembered that he had said:

"I had once met a man long after my creation seeking knowledge from my creator about the nature of Light and Darkness. This would have been around the time that you and Theodore had become assistants to me shortly before we met with your guest. This man's name as I can recall was Terra. He was a wanderer between the Realms of Light and Darkness. Trapped and reaching out for any handhold he could get. This brought him to me for a short period of time. It was at this time that I would impart some wisdom to him about the power of bonds and the usefulness of the contract. However, my information was not for free and we came to an agreement. The information was traded and some time later he was gone.

"However, when I educated him on the power of bonds he seemed to be somewhat knowledgeable about the topic already. This certainly piqued my interest and I decided to offer more information to exchange for his and I learned a great deal about the worlds that exist away from our own where our guests' reside. Terra told me however of the weapon called the keyblade. It is a weapon wielded by those who would bring balance to the world or eradicate both sides if mishandled. A weapon that can lock or unlock any lock, metaphorical or otherwise it would seem if his description was to be believed.

"When I inquired further about the weapon he then told me that the weapon was usually passed from one chosen to wield it, to others with the same capacity. It was rare for anyone to receive one by any other means or for any other reason. Keyblades are apparently rather fickle about who can wield them for once they have chosen a wielder they can be wrangled in by that wielder at all times, even if being held by another. Our exchange of information ended soon after. He was around for a while before something seemed to pull him away from the Velvet Room. I never saw him again."

Armed with the information that she had now, Elizabeth realized that this information had been both very useful and yet completely unusable. If what she heard was to be understood, the relic known as the Keyblade would only be useful in the hands of the one who wielded it. This meant that in order to try and use the weapon to help her guest, she would have to convince its owner to assist her. Elizabeth had since been spending time observing the one called Sora from a distance, trying to learn anything that could be used to convince him to help. So far however, it seemed that his otherworldliness was a complication she had not been ready for because for the life of her, he seemed to not fit very well within the lessons she had learned from her guest about people and the world. It made this more difficult than normal already due to her lack of comprehensive knowledge of social nuance. However, when Sora was confronted by a fake version his ally, Elizabeth saw something else that interested her. A pure raw emotion made manifest in the form of a total body transformation. This demanded further observation and observations needed tests.

So there she was, approaching the emotionally distraught boy and his two temporary companions when she was noticed by the three. "Greetings! My name is Elizabeth. I hope that you do not fear my presence. My curiosity has been piqued with you there," Elizabeth introduced herself pointing at Sora. "Would you perhaps be willing to participate in satisfying my inquiries?"

Sora looked at the strange woman before him. She looked most unlike anyone he had ever seen before. Everything about her except for one detailed about her. The yellow eyes that he had seen on far too many enemies to count. He climbed back to his feet and could feel Rise standing close to him.

Rise whispered to him, "Himiko is warning me. She is one of the strongest Persona wielders I have ever felt. Be careful, Sora."

Sora did not react much. He stepped towards the woman in front of him. "What do you want exactly?"

"Oh right! Yuki always did tell me I am supposed to be clear when making a request. I was hoping to see if you could fight me while you were using that interesting power you had just tapped into!" Elizabeth explained. Behind her air-headed actions, Sora could tell there was a very intelligent mind observing him.

Sora however, shook his head and replied, "I can't help you with that. I don't even know what it is and if I can help it, I will never do it again."

Elizabeth's posture remained neutral but the ever so slight narrowing of her eyes told Rise everything she needed to know about the way this conversation was going. Rise took on a blue glow and her Persona was made manifest. Junpei was not entirely sure what was going on, but these two kids were clearly threatened by this woman. As a Shadow Operative, he could not just stand aside and let this continue.

"Look lady, the kid said no. I don't know how you knew Yuki, but you need to move on now," Junpei said bouncing his bat on his shoulder. In his other hand, he held a small blue gun with the anagram S.E.E.S engraved in on the side of the slide.

Elizabeth looked at all three of the people in front of her and then readied the book under one of her arms. "I am afraid that maybe the words 'willing to participate' have given you the wrong impression. To clarify, you will be participating. I am sorry to say that I can not take 'no' as an answer," she explained as the book flipped through its pages until it stopped. She then took on the same blue hue that Rise had and a Persona was made manifest from her. It had an almost robotic, bear trap of a face and its humanoid, dark-jacketed form was surrounded by 8 coffin lid shaped objects that floated around it. They were connected by some fine chain to its shoulders. It was a terrifying sight to behold. Particularly for Junpei, who recognized the figure almost immediately.

"Th-that's not your Persona. That's his Persona! How do you have his Persona!?" Junpei was outraged. He walked ahead of Sora and Rise and put the small gun up the side of his head. "Give it back!" Junpei pulled the trigger and rising behind him was Trismegistus a red suited figure straight wings protruding from his back and his arms. Junpei ran forward with bat in hand and his Persona crashed into the opposing Persona.

"Thanatos," Elizabeth began to explain as she deftly dodged Junpei's reckless swings, "was left with me by Yuki to hold onto while he was off performing his destiny. I have stolen nothing, I am simply using what has been left to me in the form of this Compendium."

Junpei was having none of it however as he yelled, "Shut up! If you knew Yuki so well, you wouldn't be using his sacrifice as justification for this!" Rise and Sora were lost, but they could tell this man needed assistance. Sora swapped his Keyblade to a white blade that seemed to shimmer blues and pinks in pastel shades. Oathkeeper now in hand he began to dash off to the side and cast magic spells in the direction of Elizabeth. A trail of ice was left in the wake of his last spell. Leaping on the trail left behind, he slid down the line and tried to catch the woman off guard. However, her tricky moves when fighting Junpei caused the angry man's most recent swing to hit Sora to the side. A surprising amount of strength as Sora felt himself fly down an alleyway.

Rise stayed at a distance and launched lasers at the woman's Persona being careful to avoid the other man's Persona. Junpei was emotionally invested in this fight, so getting his Persona freed up would be a good start. Additionally, anything to keep this woman from trying to get Sora to turn into whatever he transformed into before. It had scared Rise, but she also never wanted him to feel the need to turn into it again. Elizabeth however was a talented and agile fighter. Her Persona Thanatos disengaged from the fight and began to charge up with a large amount of blue energy.

"Please do not interfere!" Elizabeth requested forcefully. The beam of energy flew out and engulfed, Junpei's Persona and was fast approaching Rise's Persona as well. Sora dashed down the alley and then leapt through the air at the Persona smacking it with his Keyblade. Thanatos was knocked away and the attack was interrupted before it collided with Himiko. Junpei struggled to keep his feet beneath him after the hit his Persona had just taken.

Junpei stepped towards her and with heavy angry breaths began to speak menacingly. "Go away. You clearly are not the friend to Yuki you seem to think you are. Yuki was an amazing person and the greatest leader I have ever known. He would not associate with one as heartless as you!" His passionate rant seemed to strike a chord within Elizabeth as she looked at all three of the people fighting against her.

"Perhaps, I have overstepped my boundaries in the pursuit of my cru… cru… croissant? Crouton? Crusade!" Elizabeth admitted, struggling with a word. She turned from the group and as she began to walk away, Sora heard her say something else. "I am sorry, Yuki. Just give me more time to find a way to get you back."

"What happened to him?" Sora asked suddenly. "What happened to Yuki?"

Junpei stared at the ground before finally answering, "He sacrificed himself to save the planet. He had to stop a god from coming from the moon and killing all of humanity. Killing us."

Elizabeth turned back to the group and admitted, "Nothing is more fearsome than a fool fighting for the people they love. I was hoping to employ the help of your Keyblade to try and find a way to release him from the seal on that entity that wants to destroy mankind, without getting rid of the seal itself."

Sora listened to the explanation and it made him think of times passed. Like Riku and the King remaining in the Realm of Darkness to seal that version of Kingdom Hearts. "I am sorry to hear of your loss. If I could help I would, but the Keyblade just deals with locks," Sora explained to her. "If he is there as the seal, then getting him out would get rid of the seal."

"We accepted that," Junpei said still staring at the floor. "Maybe it is time that you accept that too."

Elizabeth was quiet for a moment before she finally commented, "Maybe you are right. But I am nothing if not determined. But I guess it will be back to the drawing board for me then. My bond with Yuki is something I must protect. But I cannot sacrifice it at the price of the world. Keybearer, please accept my apologies. It is time for me to go and find another option."

Sora put his hands behind his head and seemed to get lost in thought. Though she was an odd person, he could not help but admire her determination. Even though he was seemingly dead and gone, Elizabeth was going to lengths for just the chance to get Yuki back. She honestly reminded him of his first adventure hunting after his friends. If she kept at it, Sora was sure that she could be successful one day. "Good luck, Elizabeth. I hope you find the answer you're looking for," Sora said to her with a genuine smile. Rise was happy to see it on his face. His transformation from before had seemingly left no evidence of having ever happened.

* * *

Dante accompanied the robot girl and her archer companion up the tower. His thoughts drifted to Sora a few times hoping that he was ok wherever he ended up. He knew the kid could take care of himself in a fight, but these strange copies did not pull punches and could get under your skin real easily. Some distance up the tower, the group found itself inside of what appeared to be a High School Gym.

"Well this is making me remember some awkward years in my life," Dante remarked sarcastically.

Yukari scoffed and replied, "You make it sound like you haven't been in High School for years."

Dante replied, "I haven't…" he then looked down and remembered what he looked like at that moment. Physically, he might as well have been sitting in a desk or wearing gym clothes because he looked like a high school student. "Long story."

"So, Yukari, how do you know the Shadow Operatives?" Yukiko asked.

Yukari was quiet before she answered, "I went to school with Mitsuru and Akihiko. That was when I first successfully summoned my Persona. Most of our members back then became the first members of the Shadow Operatives after we all graduated."

"Most?" Yu asked.

"Some of us didn't make it to graduation," Yukari replied bitterly.

Dante listened to her tone. Clearly she was referring to the fact that people died. He then thought about how her look had lingered on his jacket. A maroon peacoat he had acquired prior to just after the initial investigation of the town. The group began to make its way through the gym when they came across a young woman in a flat cap laying on the ground.

"Naoto!" Yu called as he dashed ahead and slid to her side. The young woman stirred and Yu's shoulders relaxed. "Naoto, are you okay?"

"Yu-senpai?" Naoto asked as she seemed to be coming out of a daze. "I have been worse. I was blindsided by someone. I am just glad that you are alright."

"Who was it?" Yukiko asked having knelt down next to Naoto and having her Persona cast a healing spell on her friend.

Naoto shook her head and got herself up on her feet. "I am not sure. I did not recognize them. All I can really say is that they had long hair tied back and an eyepatch. He was wielding some kind of gun weapon that fired laser like projectiles. And I cannot believe that I am saying this, but he also seemed to possess the abilities to ignore gravity and teleport. The fight was over so quickly. I had been tracking strange activity in the tower when he confronted me. Which makes me believe that I may have been following his trail," she explained.

Dante hummed. He sounded like the guy that they had met outside with the laser weapon description. But the eyepatch ruled him out. Maybe it was someone else from Sora's past. "Hey there, name's Dante. What were you doing this far up the tower alone?"

Naoto observed Dante and then looked at Yu who just nodded at her. "I was suspicious of potential activity in the area when the red fog rolled in. I entered the tower first thing as it was the strangest thing in the environment. I figured it would be the best place to look for information," Naoto told Dante. "Who are you exactly? I have not seen you before yesterday yet you didn't disappear when all the other people did."

Dante was impressed by her attention to detail. "Very observant. I take it that if you suspect me of being dishonest with you, you will call me out on it as well?" Dante asked her with a small smirk.

"Immediately," Naoto replied with a no nonsense look.

Dante's small smirk grew as he then said, "Well then I will give you the abridged, honest answer then. I am here with my spikey-haired friend to save the world. He has a weapon called the Keyblade and the suspicion is that if we were brought here, then he has to find the Keyhole to seal the world's heart away from Darkness in an ongoing war between it and the Light."

Naoto's expression could not be any further than disbelieving and Dante figured that it was because she was going to call him on making this up on the spot. However the next words out of her mouth caught him off guard. "You must be one of the Guardians of Light then," she said.

"What?" Dante and Yukari both asked at the same time. However, his tone suggested confusion, her tone suggested shock.

Yukari stepped closer to her, "Shirogane-san, how do you know about that?"

"I am very good at research," Naoto responded dismissively. "The Kirijo Group's datafiles are vast and many. However, in my search for your information on Shadows I came across a strange entity known as the Heartless. That led me down a whole rabbit hole of information I have been reviewing for weeks now."

"Guardian of Light? This is the second time I have heard the term. What is a Guardian of Light?" Dante asked.

"They are the ones facing off against the Seekers of Darkness. To prevent or participate in something called the Keyblade War," Naoto explained. "A lot of this does not make a lot of sense to me though."

Yukari sighed. "That makes all of us. While I know you have been very useful to us in our cause Shirogane-san, but your resourcefulness truly shows no bounds," Yukari said holding her fingers to her face and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Have you seen Mitsuru or Akihiko, yet? We are here to go and rescue them."

"I got close to them once, but the person in charge here is very effective at keeping me away," Naoto answered, disheartened.

Yu however just smiled and said, "Well, I am glad you're okay. Would you like to join us in-?" Yu cut himself off as he suddenly turned to face a figure that was previously not there. When Dante and the others turned, they saw a man in a red hooded cloak and was a very sturdy and muscular build.

"Akihiko?" Yukari asked. However, the look the group got from him was one Dante recognized immediately. That was the face of someone savvy to something. A fake pretending to be the genuine article. The same look that the fake Sora had been wearing. Dante extended his arm to prevent Yukari from going towards him.

The fake Akihiko looked over at Dante and the expression turned to irritated. "You know your ability to pick us out it pretty frustrating," the fake said in Akihiko's voice.

"And you have just revealed that all of you come from the same source," Dante replied with a clever grin. The look of irritation turned deadly serious and for the first time in a very long time, Dante felt a type of murderous intent that sent an excited shiver up his spine. "You guys get going, this guy is mine."

Yu however readied his weapon, "We can help, Dante," Yu told him.

Dante however shook his head and said, "Save your strength for the angry red. I get the feeling that this is going to be the last fight I am going to participate in before you guys get this whole thing solved anyhow. Consider this my contribution, Yukari, cause I still expect to get some answers for doing the job."

Yukari audibly sighed and replied, "You win this fight and the deal still stands, Dante."

"One last round," Dante said confidently, gesturing for them to all get going. Turning to the man in the cloak Dante's devil-may-care attitude started taking full flight as his allies made their way out of the room. "Alright then, now that we are alone, we have the whole place to ourselves."

"I am going to put you down, here and now interloper," came the response of a very angry man. The hood flew back at the sheer speed of the man revealing a white mop of hair on a bandaged face. The arms that were exposed framed a scarred body and were capped with lightly padded red gloves, revealing him to be an unarmed fighter. Dante used the Royalguard to block it and immediately regretted it after the five immediate follow up blows landed diagonally across his torso and forced him backwards.

"Ok, so you are more than just a fast runner. Good to know," Dante commented out loud as he struck a more combat ready pose. His younger body was also admittedly weaker now that he was in a fight with someone he would normally not be this even with. 'Akihiko' did a small hop forward approaching much more carefully as the two of them began to take testing shots at the other to get a feel for each other's approach. The person this fake was based on was very clearly a seasoned fighter, Dante concluded. Probably the most dangerous type to get into a fight with and Dante was momentarily glad he was not fighting the genuine article who would probably have a Persona of some kind. He would not lose, but that would be a fight that would be frustrating to get into nonetheless. Hypotheticals had to be put aside as the clone suddenly lashed out, pulling Dante from his thoughts. A deadly dance of attacks and blocks began and neither fighter could really get any kind of advantage over the other. Dante suddenly disappeared as he used his Trickster Style to reappear in the air behind his opponent and landed a heavy blow against the back of his head. However, an immediate recovery and a spinning back hand, put Dante back on the defensive as his opponent began building up momentum.

Dante summoned to hand his Gilgamesh weapon to help alleviate the force of impact from his opponent as his arms were getting a little sore. A piston kick got 'Akihiko' to disengage and Dante then followed it up with a fast axe kick. The fake kicked up from his position on his back and the two disengaged to process what they had learned about the other.

To Dante, Akihiko was as equally skilled as he was strong. Years of disciplined practice at the skill he was best at which was boxing. That meant two things to Dante. All of his opponents arm based combat was going to be some of the best as far as his ability to strike, block, and parry against all upper body attacks. It also meant that his opponent would have no groundwork or general leg based combat. For Dante, taking this to grapples and blows below the metaphorical belt would have to be his focus.

To 'Akihiko,' his opponent was a veritable smorgasbord of various combat stylings. Picking and choosing to incorporate anything that interested him into his fighting technique and therefore a jack-of-all-trades with weapons. This meant two things to him. His opponent would likely have some kind of response to most any attack, so he would have to focus on catching his opponent off guard and to not give him any breathing room to take advantage of any combat stylings that would take advantage of the weakness in boxing. It also meant that his opponent was overly confident in his own durability and would likely let attacks through purely on the belief he would muscle through it to use one of his various techniques.

As if they had some unseen referee signalling for them to start the fight back up, the two of them began to approach each other once more. Dante was the first to try anything as he attempted a small, quick left jab. A weave and counter was his only response and Dante barely avoided it. The fake then dashed with a sway to his torso avoiding Dante's attempt to prevent his approach and planted a meaty punch to Dante's gut. Dante gripped Akihiko's arm and with a spin attempted to flip 'Akihiko' over. Landing with his legs bent, the fake used the momentum and flipped Dante over his back with a mighty heave. Dante slid to a stop and with a fancy flourish rolled over back onto his feet. It was Dante's turn to show off his speed as he dashed forward using the Trickster Style.

Predicting the immediate counter, Dante disappeared. Reappearing behind and above his opponent, a platform of energy appeared behind him and he dashed forward as the fake went to react to him. Dante, now behind the red-cloaked boxer again, landed a charged shot into the back of his opponent. 'Akihiko' was sent flying forward, but Dante was not done. Taking a page out of his nephew's book, he dashed forward and caught Akihiko's foot and pulled him back in his free hand now drawn back. With a mighty swing, 'Akihiko' was planted on the floor. However, his recovery was immediate and he clambered back to his feet.

Completely caught off guard, Dante felt himself take a considerable beating as 'Akihiko' seemed to be attacking from every direction using his natural speed. The two of them were so absorbed in the moment that neither one heard the grunt of effort. Nor did either of them see the metal fold-up chair that hit the fake Akihiko until it was bouncing through the air. Dante barely got vision on the familiar form of a blonde punk flying through the air with both feet together. The fake Akihiko was sent flying again from the force of the impact. He slid to a stop a small distance away.

Kanji landed smoothly lowering himself to his chest with his arms cushioning his impact on the ground and got immediately back on his feet. Looking over at Dante he explains, "He's a boxer, you gotta grapple 'im more."

Dante looked at him with a slight moment of confusion. "What about any of that was grappling?" he asked.

"Well I did that because it was manly as hell," Kanji said with a confident smile. 'Akihiko' recovered and with a sudden boost of speed, he knocked Kanji right off his feet. However, in that moment of impact, Dante raised his right foot and brought down another axe kick on his opponent. The fake was dropped to a knee from the attack and Dante proceeded to go into his Devil Trigger as he tackled the boxer to the ground. A few stray fists caught the side of his face, but Dante's demon form took the hits like they were nothing and returned the punishment to the boxer pinned beneath him. When Dante was done, he felt comfortable stepping away from his opponent and just tried to catch his breath. The fake Akihiko struggled back to his feet as it seemed like his form was beginning to fail him. As Kanji approached cautiously, 'Akihiko' eyed the two of them before finally falling to a knee.

"You and your damn bonds. Always getting in the way of the things I am trying to accomplish. I have at least separated you from the others," the fake said with a dirty grin. "Goodbye, Dante." His form disappeared.

Kanji looked over at the newcomer to Inaba and said, "So you're Dante, huh? Name's Kanji Tatsumi. Me and my friends also like to save the world. You want to work together?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: That was a fun scene wasn't it? I realized half way through this portion of the story that Elizabeth would absolutely love to interact with the Keyblade if she thought it would save Yuki. Also, can I just say how much fun I had writing the 'fake' Akihiko vs Dante fight. Anyway, thanks again for the interest in story.


	11. Face My Fears, Face Myself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Wow! What a ride! Here we are in our last chapter here in Inaba. Hope you have enjoyed it.

Dante and Kanji began making their way up the tower. Shortly after their fight with the fake Akihiko they had started to hear combat coming from above. They made their way up the winding stairs to come out on top of the tower. A man Dante did not recognize in a suit was on the ground having been apparently defeated by the red-haired man. The man with the eyepatch as described before by Naoto was here and accompanied by a large number of Heartless and some other enemies that Dante was not familiar with. Sora was somehow up here and with him was a girl with twin-tails. In the middle of it all was the a large floating red stone.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Sho shouted. "Why are you all here?"

"Sorry," replied the eyepatch man. "But I have to be here to observe the forces of bonds vs solitude. It is of a particular interest to my organization. What better way to test it than to have it go up against the keyblade wielder? Right Sora?"

"What's that supposed to mean, Xigbar?" Sora demanded.

Dante finally called out, "Hey, anybody want to get me up to date here?"

* * *

Sora and Rise had been stuck in a strange predicament after the lady in blue had left. Junpei had told them to go on without him as he needed to rest after his fight with her. They were pretty sure he was needing some time alone to reflect on what had just happened. So it was decided between the two of them, they would try to head to the tower since Dante was going to be there with her friends. However, no matter how hard they tried they just couldn't seem to make any progress towards it.

Then they were confronted by a figure in an all too familiar dark coat. The figure stood in their way with arms crossed. "Hey there, kiddo. It's been a while," the voice said in a lackadaisical and cocky way. Pulling back his hood, Xigbar made his identity known to the two of them.

"Xigbar! What are you doing here?" Sora demanded summoning his Kingdom Key to hand. This just got a laugh out of the man.

"Hey," Xigbar started, putting his hands up in surrender. "I'm not here to start a fight, kiddo. I'm just on a recon mission and figured I would check up on my favorite key slinging little buddy. Besides, I figured you would want a helping hand from an old friend. Full marks by the way on the fight with that crazy Elevator Attendant."

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Rise asked aggressively.

Xigbar scoffed and said, "Well that's a rude way to get to know someone. You sure do attract some firecrackers, don't you Sora?"

"What do you want, Xigbar?" Sora asked forcefully.

Xigbar just shook his head as he turned to leave and replied, "No good will ever come from putting other people first, Sora. You may be willing to jump in and save someone, but I stop being a fan when people have to jump in and save the first guy. You're all just lining up to lose out. Dooming others to take the fall with ya. Oh, and you can spare me the usual party line. Especially you, little miss idol. Yes, hearts are powerful when they're connected. But if you put too much of that power in one place, some of those hearts might end up breaking. Still, Sora, that doesn't mean you should change. Accept the power you're given. Find the hearts joined to yours."

Sora, clearly frustrated by Xigbar's preachiness, angrily asked, "Why would I ever take advice from you?"

"As if! You don't have any choice but to follow this sweet little trail of breadcrumbs. And at the end, you'll finally realize what destiny has in store for you. In fact, your reward might be right around the corner. You're so close!" Xigbar said summoning a portal. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to go and watch a fight that is going to pit your precious bonds against the power of solitude. Still on a recon mission after all."

Xigbar began to walk slowly through the portal. Sora dashed forward and Rise followed close behind, the two of them passed through the portal just as it was beginning to close. They stepped out of the far side of it in an area that appeared to be at the top of the tower. The moon was bigger than ever up that high and Sora watched as the tail end of a fight between two people ended. Arriving on scene was Yu and party.

With Dante and another teen up on the tower, Xigbar felt that now would be a great time to throw some Heartless and Nobodies into the mix and to see what would happen. Yu stepped up and said to Sora, "Listen, I will deal with Sho. You and Rise should work with the others to take care of all these other enemies."

Naoto however had her eyes on Xigbar and was ready to pursue him now that she was not going to be caught off guard by his abilities. Dante saw the hunger there and made sure he was involved with that fight. Yukari's eyes were locked on the position her allies all strung up like she remembered they had been once before, a long time ago. It was go time.

Yu ran forward at Sho, summoning his Persona along the way. Dante and Naoto made a direct line for Xigbar, which Kanji followed. Sora, Rise, Labrys and Yukiko began to go to work on the massive wave of enemies around them all. Yukari charged over to her allies to get them free and involved as soon as possible.

The randomly spawned enemies seemed to be easy enough for the team of people going after them. However, Xigbar was not nearly so kind. His quick nature and tricky fighting style made trying to learn to fight him frustrating for his three opponents. Especially tired out as they all were at the time. Dante pulled the two pistols from behind him and worked on contending with the sheer number of projectiles flying from this guy's weapons. His Gunslinger style was certainly getting a work out today. This allowed Kanji and Naoto the opportunity to try and find a way to get close to him for any kind of consistent offense.

Dante suddenly found himself being targeted by Xigbar's onslaught. His ability to exist outside of the confines of gravity made Naoto and Kanji nearly ineffective to keep him busy, so when Dante kept being the only consistent thorn in his side, the focus fell on him. Leaping forward, Dante did a quick roll forward as his hands flashed this way and that disrupting or deflecting as many of the laser bolts as possible and dodging the ones that slipped past his wall of bullets.

"You know," Dante started saying when provided the moment for a breath. "I don't think I have ever met someone capable of firing as many bullets as me. I don't like you."

"Right back at you," Xigbar replied as he finished reloading. He stuck his arms out and his hands disappeared into small portals next to him. Dante's arms mimicked a similar pose as the two of them began pulling their triggers as fast as they could. Dante's eyes were closed as he seemed to become very focused on the matter at hand. In his mind, he realized that his opponent was swapping up his firing pattern to try and capture him off guard. Dante matched the pattern, successfully resisting the attack. The portals and Xigbar's hands disappeared. Dante and Xigbar stared off, one reloading and the other simply lowering his arms and they continued battling against each other with their wills. Meanwhile, a large metal man with a painted skeleton fell from the sky above Xigbar. Dante smirked and when Xibar looked up, he was struck by the giant lightning bolt shaped blade and then followed up by a giant bolt of lighting followed in the giant's wake.

Xigbar fell from the sky and landed back down on the ground, but he immediately bounced back to his feet. With both of his weapons out, his right hand pointed straight forward and his left hand pointed to the right putting both Naoto and Kanji right in the line of fire. Without letting either of them directly out of sight, a portal opened behind Xigbar and he left through it saying, "I guess this is all the observations I am gonna be able to make. Give my regards to the keyblade wielder."

Meanwhile, as the random enemies numbers began to dwindle, Sora turned his attention to the rest of the battlefield. Xigbar was gone, which explained the lack of enemy reinforcements. He continued to look around and his eyes were drawn to the massive amount of energy creating some kind portal from off of the tower that seemed to be resonating with the giant stone on the roof.

"You're all too late! My wish is going to come true now!" Sho yelled over the battlefield as he deflected Yu's most recent attack. "My solitude has made me stronger than your predictable bonds. Watch as I exact my dreams upon all of you! I'll destroy everything! Every-!" Everyone there could see he was not entirely himself as it seemed both sides of his mind were trying to be incontrol of his body at this time. Soon his ranting stopped and his body went limp. Soon though he raised back up.

"He's getting too worked up. It's a bad habit of his," he said in an eerily calm tone. "I didn't think you would put up this much of a fight. Perhaps I should I have killed you before."

Yu reclaimed him footing as he replied, "Minazuki, earlier you said you wanted to grant Sho's wish. But this isn't the way to save him!"

Minazuki's gaze was steel and it unwavered as he replied, "And I said that was your perspective on this matter. All I'm here for is to grant this boys wish."

"That's not his wish!" Yu called out passionately.

"Are you delusional?" Minazuki asked, deadpanned. "I know the boy. I know of his hatred and of his suffering. His father… Shuji Ikutsuki… abandoned this boy. He used the boy for his own desires and then discarded him when he was as good as dead. This is the world that abandoned him. That's why this boy came to detest everything about this world, and wish for it to all disappear."

Yu however was not having it and he yelled, "No… Sho just doesn't know yet! What he's been through isn't all there is to the world. It's not too late!"

"Silence... " Minazuki replied chillingly. "I know what I am. I am a shard of one who brings about death. If this boy wishes for the death of all, then I will use my true nature to destroy this world!" When he seemed to become stronger however, shadows began to swarm his mouth, eyes, ears, nose, and even the wounds he has suffered in fights. A voice called out, "This body will be a suitable host for my return!" The laugh that emanated from the now possessed body of pierced the ears of everyone on this rooftop. The body of Sho Minazuki raised up into the portal and a large flaming entity begin to climb out of the portal that was forming. Swallowing the boy, the figures dark body was beginning to climb out and reach outward the people on the top of the tower.

Rise began to glow as Himiko came back to her and she began to scan the enemy. However, a sweeping arm sent her and her Persona off the side of the tower. Sora began to call, "Kai-!" As he ran forward to try to stop her. Dante realized the slip that Sora had almost performed and however seemed to have the same idea as he took off across the top of the tower.

The two of them leapt off the roof and practically dove at the now falling Rise. She kept her Persona around her and her eyes shut, though both of them could see the tears escaping as the wind whipped around her. Dante straightened out and as he sped up his decent he could not help but admire how brave she was being, even if it was entirely an act. Himiko soon faded, but Rise did not leave the pose. As Dante fell faster, he looked back up to see Sora with his keyblade in hand. The two of them nodded to each other as Dante titled himself forward and shot down through the air to her.

Dante swept her up in his arms and when he felt her flinch and clench at the sudden contact he took that opportunity to get his forearm under her legs and with a yell of effort, he launched her back towards Sora.

Sora at this time had pointed his Keyblade down and as soon as he saw Rise come flying up he cast a wind spell. When she passed through it, it launched her up higher and right to his level but closer to the side of the tower. Sora dashed through the air and grabbed on to her. Using flowmotion, he ran up the side of the tower until he found a ledge to rest on. He had never used Flowmotion to do something like that before and it took it out of him. Setting her down on the ledge, he sat down next to her with his legs dangling off and looked down to try and see if he could find Dante.

After he threw Rise, Dante then had to figure out how he was gonna stop himself. His Devil Trigger was nearly tapped from so much use and so little time to rest. So he was going to have to get creative in how he was going to get rid of all this downward momentum. He took out his guns and fired them away from the tower and pushed himself back towards the structure. After a quick moment of observation, he kicked his feet down and ran down the side of the tower, his sword out in front of him. The heat from the air friction was building and Dante knew he was going to have to launch himself forward soon. Finally, after no longer being willing to take the chance, Dante popped what was left of his Devil Trigger and launched himself forward off the tower. As he flew out from the tower, he was suddenly greeted by two Persona who were reaching out to him to brace him. His momentum plowed into them but their combined effort kept him from splatting on the ground. He recognized the yellow-clad Persona as being Tomoe, the persona of Chie. Which meant this other one had to be Yosuke's Persona.

"Whoa! Dante! Where did you come from?" Chie called out excitedly.

Yosuke holding his head replied, "Not so loud, Chie. I have a splitting headache over him careening into my Persona so hard."

Dante, still laying on the ground, replied, "Long story, lots of steps, sudden drop." He groaned slightly as he pushed himself to a sitting position. Looking up, he located Sora up above and simply sighed, contented.

Both of the visitors to this world realized that their role here had been played and now it was just up to those here to finish what they started. Sora looked over at Rise who seemed to finally be willing to open her eyes. She looked over at Sora and with sob latched on his arm.

"Sora, I was so scared!" Rise wailed.

Sora let her cry and simply replied, "You could have fooled me Rise. You were pretty stone faced the whole time we were trying to catch you."

After a few moments, her sobs started to come back under control and she finally replied, "I just needed to tell Yu, that his Persona seemed to be resonating with that monster, once I was done with that, I thought I was going to die, and… What do you mean catch me?"

Sora then referred to the area around them and Rise seemed to notice that they were simply sitting on a ledge off the side of the tower. She looked up and realized that they were both well beyond the halfway point. "You rescued me?" Her latch onto his arm turned into a full embrace as she whispered to him, "Thank you."

Sora just hugged her back and looked out over the twisted version of Inaba. "You wanna finish getting down?" he asked her, as he got them both their feet. Rise nodded. Sora simply turned around and knelt signalling for her to climb on. She put her arms up under his and he propped her up by her legs. "Just don't look down if you are afraid of heights, ok?" He told her and before she could respond he jumped off the edge. As the two of them descended down the tower, he dashed back to the wall and ran down to a nearby ledge. Each time he did this he would check on her and make sure she was still ok during the experience. Each time she would just nod and bury her face into the back of his jacket. After about 6 minutes of this approach, the two of them finally made it to the ground he set her down. It seemed that it happened not a moment too soon, as the tower began to shake with the clearing of the red fog.

Dante approached along side Chie and Yosuke. "I think that leader of yours pulled it off," Dante commented idly.

Rise hummed in affirmation and added, "That's our leader." Chie and Yosuke could not help but agree. The tower began to crumble, but that rubble also began to transform. During the fall, Sora's keyblade began to glow and he raised it up. The beam that flew up to the moon was reflected and it hit the top of the tower just before it finished crumbling. The resounding click of the lock was a comfort to Sora. By the time the tower was gone, the school was back in its rightful place. The five of them began to make their way back into town and as if on queue, arriving in the area near Junes prompted them all to be joined by the Shadow Operatives and the Investigation Team.

"But before you all get going, I have questions to be answered." He walked over to the Shadow Operatives. "So, my name is Dante. I have some questions if you would be willing to help."

"So you are the one who helped Takeba?" asked a voluptuous redhead, in a fur coat and tight leather bodysuit. Dante had to admit that he would have made a comment if she did not give off the air of someone who would run you through for such a sin. On top of which, another version of Akihiko was with her and Dante did not have that kind of time.

Dante decided that a simple nod was the best recourse and replied, "That would be correct. Me and my friend were looking for something called the Keyhole. We have found it now, but I was also curious in something else if you would not mind."

Sora decided to join Dante when he heard mention of the keyhole. Rise followed him and listened in since she was adamant this information would be relevant to her joining Sora and Dante on their journey,

"Well then, perhaps we should sit down and discuss these matters," the woman continued.

When they all got situated. Sora finally asked, "So how do you know of the Keyhole?"

"That would be my doing," a light blue haired girl said. "My name is Fuuka. I am the analyst of the Shadow Operatives. Mitsuru here is both my boss and the person who helps fund my technology for tracking Shadows and looking for information on Shadow related incidents." Her explanation was a little slow going as her gentle nature seemed to make her nervous to talk about this stuff in front of strangers. "Well one day, I tracked a strange signal. It seemed like it was technological in basis but my attempts to track it were constantly being interfered with. This was about a year-and-a-half ago, I believe. For the most part I ignored it, since it was not what my equipment was for, but eventually I caved and tried for a couple days of focused study to figure out what it was. When I realized that it was a computer coming from off world, I tried to remotely access it but I needed a password. No matter how hard I tried I could not guess something that would let me in. Then about a year ago, I noticed that the computer was being used. So I decided to track the keystrokes. After a few days, I managed to find that they changed the password. Remote access gave me the ability to start downloading files. While many were either encrypted or damaged, I was able to get a lot information."

"Well that makes sense," Sora said trying to pretend that he knew what she was saying. Best he could tell, she got the information through sorcery.

"Well, when I realized that one of the files mentioned Shadows I had to look at it all. That was when I found out about the entities known as Heartless. That led to me learning of Keyholes, Nobodies, and finally something called the Keyblade War," Fuuka explained further.

"So then what did Naoto mean when she referred to me as a Guardian of Light?" Dante asked.

"The Guardians of Light are going to do battle with the Seekers of Darkness. That is the Keyblade War. It seems that it has something to do with a thing called Kingdom Hearts. I am not entirely certain beyond that though due to the information being somewhat damaged," Fuuka explained. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help."

"No, it is fine. Even getting a little more context is useful. Good to see you all are doing well now," Dante said as he started to leave.

"Do you know whose computer it was?" Sora asked.

Fuuka replied, "As far as I could tell, I think the owner of the computer was a man named Ansem the Wise." Sora was about to react to this information when the conversation continued.

"Y'know Dante, if you ever end up back here, we could use someone like you in the Shadow Operatives," Akihiko said to him. "Yukari told me about how you went toe-to-toe with a copy of me to get her and the others time to go up to the top of the tower. Even if it was just a copy of me, I have to respect anyone who could keep up, let alone win that fight."

With a light chuckle, Dante started walking. "Don't know if I could do it again," he replied with a half-hearted wave. The Investigation Team started to talk to the Shadow Operatives at this point, so Dante and Sora kept their distance as this was a group of people with history and important things to talk about. Sora and Dante just watched from their place off to the side of the empty food court of Junes. While they watched, Rise seemed to excuse herself from the conversation and joined the two of them. They all knew they needed to talk but before they could begin, the girl named Fuuka approached them.

"Sora?" Fuuka asked. "I just had one more thing that I feel like I should let you know. There was information in those files about you. Sora, it seems like maybe your existence houses other people. You may need to find a way to save them, too."

"Are you talking about Roxas?" Sora asked. "I know I need to save him. But who else could be dependant on me like that?"

"I wish I could tell you more," Fuuka told him apologetically.

Sora shook his head and said, "Thank you for the information, Fuuka." Fuuka walked away and Sora looked at the ground in thought. Rise and Dante both watching him as thoughts seemed to be going back and forth in his mind.

After a few moments, Sora turned to Dante and said, "Dante, can we talk?"

"Yeah, I think we should actually. Can I start?" Dante replied. Sora nodded. "Look, I know that I have been leaning on you hard about the situation with… Kairi. I just need you to know that I have only been doing that because it did affect me. It was a terrible thing that happened. In a way, it was like losing a kid sister or a niece. You three made quite an impact in my and Nero's lives, y'know? I don't say stuff like this normally, but I care about you. That is why I kept bringing it up. But I have to be ok with the fact that you only need to talk about… _that_ when you are ready. I am sorry."

Rise had this interesting look on her face. It was somewhere between adoration and heartbreak. Sora looked at Dante and then to her. To both of them he said, "I need to tell you two about me. Dante, it hasn't been fair for me to shut you out like I have been. Rise, you have been trying to break through all of this guarded stuff and I need to tell someone about who I am."

Rise smiled and said, "If you're putting it like that, then it sounds like I have earned it. But since I am going to be coming with you, it is not like I would tell you no."

Dante interjected, "Have you specifically told the keyblade that? I had to demand it and even then I didn't find out 'till it took me with it. But seriously, Sora if you want to tell us anything, I know I am here and ready to listen."

"Me too," Rise said with a smile. So Sora started from what he believed to be the beginning with Kairi arriving on his island. Riku and him beginning to think about how to leave the island as they got older. The attack on his island by the heartless and his acquiring of his Keyblade. Meeting the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee on Traverse Town. Meeting Goofy and Donald. The visions of Kairi. Riku and his battle with darkness. Sora and his battle with Riku. His fight with Ansem. The sleep. His fights with the Organization. Then his training. The story went on for nearly an hour. Rise and Dante just listened and occasionally asked a question. When Sora was done, he ended with explaining to Rise what had happened back on Dante's world.

"Wow," was all Rise could say when Sora finally finished.

Dante sat quietly as he tried to absorb the information he had been given.

Rise then said, "Thank you for telling me. Makes me that much more happy to go with you."

"Are you sure you want that?" Sora asked. "You are an idol, you have so many friends here. I don't know how long you would have to be away from all of that."

"Sora, how long have you been doing this, two years? Almost three? If I could do two or three years of work to protect my friends, I would gladly sacrifice that time for them. So I am going to help. Besides, I have made a promise and I have to keep it." Rise explained her self eloquently. "I just need to talk to senpai, tell him enough about it so he knows not to worry about it."

"And I am already here," Dante said with a laugh. Sora just nodded and gave them both a big smile. "Now, is there anywhere here that sells, pizza?"


	12. The Dark Descent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Here we go! A KH focused chapter! This chapter is directly KH III related so I mean, some spoilers to be warned about in that regard. Please enjoy the collection of my next Guardian of Light.

* * *

The sudden sensation of water shocked Rise into consciousness. Getting her head above water she looked around and saw a beautiful island off in the distance. A large wooden structure built on an island centered a large rock. The tree stuck up out of the sand and just seemed to accentuate the peaceful view of this island with their gentle swaying. Rise made her way through the water over to the island.

"So, looks like you did come with us," she heard an older voice say to her that tickled her mind as being different but familiar. Turning to its source, she was surprised to see Dante as an older man, with the shadow of a beard growing on his face. Wearing a long red trench coat, he was very clearly wearing leather and not dressed for the beach. But the look just seemed right for him. Sora made his way up onto the beach and with a happy look, seemed much more comfortable in his long shorts and short sleeved over jacket.

"Welcome to my home," he said to them both. Rise looked around with a new sense of wonder as she realized that this place was the Destiny Islands that Sora had told her about. However, when her gaze returned back to Sora she saw him focused on something on the ground.

Rise walked over to him and looked down to see a keyblade laying in the sand. "What is this doing here? You don't just leave Keyblades laying around do you?" she asked jokingly.

Sora looked down at it and shook his head. "I have never seen this keyblade before. But if it has ended up here, then I think I may know where it came from," Sora commented. "Destiny Islands is really close to the Realm of Darkness. The edge of that realm is a beach that seems to connect to this beach. Kai-" Sora paused. "Kairi once left a message in a bottle for me in the water here and it found its way to me there. So if we are here, then I am taking Riku's job in finding Aqua."

"Aqua!" Rise said excitedly. "I am so happy we are doing this then."

Dante listened to their conversation and noted that they were really comfortable talking to each other. He had to wonder just how much they had gotten to know each other. "So, what does going to the Realm of Darkness mean to us?" Dante asked.

Sora had a serious look on his face. "The Realm of Darkness is oppressive. Spending too much time in Darkness can have a very harsh effect on people. Riku nearly lost himself to the Darkness and he is one of the strongest people I know. Since he came back from the brink, he has been emotionally guarded. But I think he mostly worries that he may not always be able to control himself around Darkness even though he has proven that he can. It will try to lure you in with promises of power. You have to ignore it. I couldn't and it almost made me a vessel for my enemies," Sora explained dourly.

"So, we go in and get back out as quickly as possible then?" Dante nut shelled.

Rise focused on her Persona and Himiko responded to her attempts to summon her. Rise was happy to know that her Persona was still there while she was away from her world. "So then Himiko can help us search for her once we're there, minimize our amount of time there," Rise said happily.

Sora looked over at the two of his allies and then looked out over at the other islands. Finally he looked down and grabbed the keyblade from the sand. "Maybe I can use this to help us find its owner," he thought out loud. Sora turned to the secret place and made his way over to it. He raised the keyblade and a door appeared before him. "Let's go!"

"Alright, party time!" Dante said walking behind him. Rise just beamed at them and after a small moment, she brought her weapon to hand in the form of her microphone. Following them through the door, it closed behind them and the three of them all descended into the darkness. As their eyes adjusted they found themselves on a dark beach. Looking out over the water, they saw a figure standing alone. Blue roots faded into grey hair, limbs engulfed in darkness and as she turned to look at the three before her now, yellow eyes pierced the distance between them. A mass of darkness held a mouse shaped figure in place.

"Mickey!" Sora called out. The mouse looked over at him and was surprised.

"Sora? Where have you been?" Mickey asked back. Sora was about to reply before he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"He was busy getting a friend killed," the voice said and shivers ran down Sora's spine. Sora turned around and standing before him was Riku. Much like the one out on the water, his limbs were covered in darkness and his eyes yellow.

Dante spun around. "Riku, what are you doing here? Where did you go?" Dante demanded. Riku raised his hand and darkness amassed.

"I am not talking to you," Riku said venomously. "You are the last person I want to talk to Dante, considering what you let your brother do," Riku continued. "Meanwhile, I tried to chase that man to the ends of the worlds but he evaded me. Even when I embraced the darkness and tried to bring the fight with him here, he defeated me. I was unable to bring myself back to the light and felt myself sink deeper into the realm then I have ever been before. And you know what? It feels good. No more pain, just hatred."

Dante drew his blade Rebellion. "Oh, shut it. If you had heard the way Sora was just praising you, this would be embarrassing. But maybe you just need someone to smack some sense into you. You wanna dance, Pretty Boy?" Dante challenged Riku. Sora was caught stuck in the middle of the situation.

Rise was confused by what she had just ended up in the middle of during this but if Riku looked like that and was acting like this, then Aqua would probably be the same. Maybe she could try to appeal to her. Rise walked towards Aqua but felt her feet sink down into the water beneath her. How was she supposed to get out there? Rise tried to press forward but it felt like there was some kind of energy that began trying to pull her down when she went out that way. Rise retreated back to the shore.

"Aqua! It's me, Rise! I am here to keep my promise to you! I need you to fight for me now! You can do it! We are here to get you out!" Rise called out to her. Aqua stared at her and Rise finally registered that in Aqua's hand was a star patterned keyblade.

"You're too late," Aqua declared angrily. "All that is left in my heart is misery and despair... and now, you can share it!"

"Aqua, please! Don't do this. You wanted to be people's wayfinder in the darkness. Let me be your wayfinder now!" Rise called back to her. Aqua gripped the blade harder and dashed forward. Rise raised her microphone stand in defense and heard the sounds of impact. Water and dust exploded outward from the point of impact. As it cleared, Rise saw Sora with his Kingdom Key in hand and blocking her attack.

Sora looked over at Rise and asked, "Are you alright?

"Yeah, her speed caught me off guard. Go and help Mickey," Rise told him. "I will keep her busy until you can get back." Sora nodded and threw Aqua back a ways. Sora dashed over to the mass of Heartless that held Mickey captive. Rise stayed put and then when she walked forward again she realized her mistake. She had not been focusing on keeping the darkness out. As she did, her feet rested over the top of the water when she stepped forward it was like walking on land. She began to glow and she summoned Himiko to her side. "Aqua, I don't want to fight you. But if you are going to force me to fight to save you. I will keep my promise!"

Aqua moved forward again but this time, Rise blocked the attack and the impact made her jump a bit. She knocked the bottom side of the mic stand into Aqua's shin and then when she yelled a noise of effort into the mic the wave of energy pushed Aqua back. Rise spun the stand around but Aqua blocked this attack and then disappeared. A multitude of copies of her began to walk around and Rise listened to the words they were saying. She folded her fingers together and she let Himiko just spread her senses out to them all.

"You abandoned me." "Left me in the shadow prison for more than a decade." "Endless wandering." "Waited forever for help to arrive." "No one ever came." "I lost my keyblade." "You should have known I was stranded." "Do you have any idea how lonely it is here?" "Frightening it is to have no one?"

Rise was almost overwhelmed by the sorrow that seemed to act like smoke. An undulating ripple of emotion flowed forth and Rise's Persona was absorbing all of it. But through it all, Rise found what she was looking for. The real Aqua hidden among her clones. Rise had Himiko point one of her orbs at the real Aqua and a laser fired forth. Aqua responded by putting up her barrier. Rise turned to face the Aqua in front of her and the two of them eyed each other warily.

Back on the shore, Dante and Riku were engaged in a massive back and forth fight. Riku's dark fireball blasts kept Dante running his paces and Dante's swordsmanship kept the young fighter from being able to dominate the fight. Dante leapt forward with his blade in front of him dispersing the dark fireballs across the blade. Closing the distance, Dante grabbed Riku's collar.

"What are you trying to prove, Riku?" Dante demanded. "You think that letting yourself lose your humanity is power?"

"I refuse to lose anyone ever again!" Riku yelled back.

Dante shook his head and replied, "It's not about loss… strength is a choice. Fighting like hell to protect what's important. You are throwing away everything you ever had… you will not get true power there!" Riku gripped the hand of Dante and held it in place as he attempted to swing his keyblade into his chest. Dante lashed his foot forward and kicked the key from Riku's hand.

"Why do you care?" Riku demanded struggling against the grip.

"Because I protect humanity!" Dante yelled at him. "Even from its own corruption, I will protect humanity. You are human, aren't you? Then why are you turning yourself into a monster?" Riku finally managed to get out of his grip and dashed back to grab his keyblade. The look in his eyes was wild but Dante could see it now. "You're afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Riku demanded.

"Afraid of getting hurt, losing someone. After all, if you care about nobody and no one cares about you, how can it hurt, right? Well, word of advice from me to you, it doesn't work. Both me and my nephew have tried that approach. All it did was make us that much more vulnerable when someone was important. We don't have to do this, kid. I don't want to hurt you," Dante said to Riku, the wisdom of his age started to shine through.

"Shut up!" Riku shouted charging forward again. He was getting angry. And the angrier he let himself get, the better chance Dante had of pacifying him. Riku launched himself forward and was swathed in fiery darkness. "You're as much to blame for her death as your brother!"

Dante's features darkened at this accusation. Dante performed a parry from his Royalguard style, that disarmed Riku of his weapon. and then lashed his fist forward laying Riku down flat on the ground. Dante stabbed his blade down into the ground right next to Riku's head and planted his foot down on his chest. As the keyblade came down from the air, Dante caught it and pointed it directly at the young man beneath him. "Choose your words carefully, Riku. Your mouth is writing some checks and I am sure you can't cash them. You're angry. You're scared. But you are not in any position to be judging me on the actions of my brother. But I can tell you this. Kairi would be ashamed of the monster you let yourself turn into. And you should be too!" Danted reprimanded.

The sudden look of pain on Riku's face almost made Dante regret the words coming from his mouth. But he could not back down from a place of pity. Riku would not respond unless he was forced to see his mistakes. "What else am I supposed to do?!" Riku yelled at the man standing over him.

"You learn to accept it," Dante said calmly, quietly. "I struggled for a long time with my emotions about my brother. When I left him for dead in hell, I was torn up about it. Fact of the matter is that I can't even pretend to say that his role and mine wouldn't have been switched, that I would not have fallen to the same kinds of darkness that he had if my mother had found him and never found me. But no matter how I reached for him, he cut his ties with me and his humanity. My brother is a threat first and my blood second. It hurt me greatly, the first time I had to leave him for dead. But I have made my peace that even if it means fighting my brother, I would protect humanity. Now my mother died protecting me and him, so I can completely imagine what you are feeling right now. But you have to decide which path you are going down. It doesn't have to be my route, but it sure as hell can't be his."

Riku looked up at the man above him and his eyes began to change back to their normal green. The tears that began to form as he truly began to realize what he had allowed himself to become in his pursuit of revenge. He had completely forgotten himself and let the darkness run rampant again. Laying his arm over his face, Riku's embarrassment and frustrations seemed to be bubbling over. "What kind of monster have I let myself become?" Riku asked through his emotions.

"I'll tell you this, you're no devil. Devils never cry," Dante said, dropping the keyblade on the ground. He pulled his blade from the ground and turned away. "Stay here, I am going to get Aqua back, safe and sound."

Rise found her fight with Aqua was becoming more difficult as time went on. She was still not used to fighting so directly and Himiko was taking a lot of shots she should have avoided. Aqua's years of training were very apparent to Rise as the discipline still shone through the darkness that emanated from her form and her emotions. As Aqua had her on the ropes now, Rise felt her ability to control Himiko was beginning to dwindle. Aqua charged forward and the intent was clear in her eyes, but for whatever reason. Aqua hesitated at the last moment. That moment of hesitation was worth a lot, as Dante's sword Rebellion slid right by Rise and knocked Aqua's weapon back. This was followed by the form of Sora landing down in between Aqua and his allies with his Keyblade throwing her back further.

"Dante! Mickey and Riku are going to need someone to protect them, right now," Sora called out. "Rise, help me get Aqua back."

The two of them looked at him and had a look of either amusement or adoration depending on who was giving it. Dante made his way back to the shore and Rise moved forward to join Sora at his side. "Aqua, I am taking you back," Rise said with a gentle smile. Sora ran forward and Aqua met hm. The two of them clashed off of each other's keyblades and every time they clashed, water and magic scattered to the wind around them. Rise observed the battle and realized that she was standing on the battlefield of titans. She needed to make sure she was useful, this was her time. Bringing Himiko forth, she waited for her moments and took her shots. They were quick and just designed to annoy or distract. Aqua was being forced now to dodge additional attacks and it opened up opportunities for Sora to land hits in on her.

Aqua split into multiple forms as she began to spin quickly and the force of it turned into energy waves that threatened to throw Sora around. He jumped up as high as he could, dashed forward, and barely managed to avoid getting torn up by the attack. Sliding to a stop, he barely got the keyblade in front of him to not get hit by her attack but it sent him flying back. Sliding on his back and back onto his feet, Sora countered Aqua's continued charge after it got interrupted by Rise's laser attack. Aqua was caught off guard and then Rise let off a storm of lasers. It rained down on Aqua and it was capped off with Sora slamming his keyblade into her.

Aqua dropped the keyblade in her hand and she slowly began to fall backwards. The darkness on her arms and legs began to fade away, her hair changing back to her natural blue. The clothing she wore turned to a pure white just before she fell onto the surface. As she fell onto the water she began to sink in almost immediately. As Aqua sank, Rise scanned for her with Himiko and as she did she heard the woman.

"So, this is the end."

Rise and Sora both called out her name. Sora slid to the position she fell, pointed his keyblade up to call out to the Door to the Light and dug his arm deep into the water she fell within. As soon as he felt her hand, he pulled her with him towards it. Sora confirmed that Dante had both Mickey and Riku under arm and that Rise was following, they all escaped into the light.

* * *

For Aqua, the light that assaulted her eyes was nearly unbearable. But as she managed to get her eyes open, she saw Ventas standing over her with his big lovable smile. His side swept spiky hair and black and silver patched clothes exactly as she remembered them. "Ven…" she said out loud to him. But the image disappeared and standing in his place was a young man with spiky hair. Aqua looked at him and her gaze wandered over to her side to see a young man with blue hair struggling to regain consciousness and she realized who she was looking at in that moment. "It's you."

Rise, looking down at Aqua, declared, "Thank goodness, you're awake."

"Rise?" Aqua asked as she looked around and saw on her otherside the form of the mouse she had come to know. "Mickey?" Her gaze continued to wander around. "Are these… the Destiny Islands?" Sora nodded. "When did they fall to darkness?" she asked as she brought her legs into her preferred sitting position.

Dante shrugged his arms and said, "I think you're a little mixed up. You're in the realm of light."

This knowledge was met with only a gasp. Aqua looked up to the sky and the tears that welled up in her eyes could be seen by all. No one there could blame her though, after all she had been through. Her body did not seem to want to move or listen to her as her disbelief was slowly being torn away by the reality of the situation.

Sora offered her his hand and with a jovial smile said, "You're home." The joyful sob that escaped her finally moved her to full on tears.

"You're home!" Rise said with a happy squeal and a jump. She then ran forward to embrace Aqua. Rise then whispered, "I told you I would find you." Aqua cried happily as she embraced the young woman. Sora leaned in and embraced them both and Dante stood by with a small smile on his face.

Dante looked over to Riku who was finally getting his bearings. He walked over to him and squatted down in front of him. "You alright, Pretty Boy?" Dante asked him. Riku looked at him and weakly nodded. After a moment of scrutiny, Riku then shook his head. "Well, I am not the hugging type, but if you need an ear…" Dante suggested. Riku did not respond as he looked down at the sand. "Well let me know," Dante remarked.

The whole group was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a roaring engine and a large orange and yellow spaceship descended down to the island. Sticking their head out of the cockpit was an agitated duck and a dopey looking dog.

"Your Majesty, I-" the duck began squawking before his gaze fell on Sora. "Sora!"

"Sora! Well gawrsh, there you are! Where have ya' been?" The dog called.

Mickey got back to his feet and added, "I think we would all like to know. Maybe we can discuss this back at the tower?"

Sora nodded. "I think we should talk. About a lot of things, your majesty."

* * *

The atmosphere in the room was palpable and heavy in the wake of the story that Sora, Dante, and Rise told. It seemed that Sora's Power of Waking was allow the Keyblade to make decisions of its own and that was why it was taking him places without him really knowing how to tap into it himself. At least, that was what Master Yen Sid seemed to believe.

"So, Kairi is gone?" Aqua asked. In the room with them, was Axel who had been brought away from his training to catch up with the group and figure out what has been happening, why he had been training alone.

"Yes," Dante answered. "I'm sorry to say that it was at the hands of my brother when they all ended up on my world."

"Don't blame yourself," Mickey said. "These are the types of things we all risk when we go out to do our jobs."

"Sora, do you think that you have gained any control over the Power of Awakening?" Yen Sid asked.

Sora put his hand behind his head and simply sighed. "No, I really don't think I do, yet. It just feels like whenever I am needed, the Keyblade drags me to the next the world in need of some help. It is kind of frustrating."

"But if you hadn't then we wouldn't be here," Rise said in a cautiously optimistic tone. "I am glad I met you if that's any consolation." The group fell quiet again.

"So if you have not mastered the Power of Awakening, we cannot send you to try and save the other key bearers. In that case, we may have to let you go on the whims of the keyblade at this time," Yen Sid explained. "Aqua, would you be willing to join Sora on his quest? Try and assist him in learning to control his special power."

Aqua nodded and then turned to Sora. "You took the time to help me. Went out of your way to help drag me back out of the Darkness, Sora. If you would have me, I want to help you with this," she said to him with a small smile. It was a good look for her, Sora thought to himself.

"Well, so far it has worked, but I can't exactly say I control whether or not it lets people come with me," Sora said awkwardly. This got a small laugh out of most of the people in the room.

"That's our, Sora!" Donald called out with a teasing tone. Sora just tried to ignore the laughs that followed.

Sora felt that familiar sensation. The light fluctuated around him and he summoned his Keyblade to hand. He looked over at everyone and with simple smile said, "It is time for me to go. Aqua, I hope I can take you with me." He looked over at Riku who was staring at the ground, ashamed. "Riku, I'll be back soon. Take care!"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note, Too: So off we go again. Hope you all are looking forward to world of Remnant. RWBY-verse, here we come! Thank you again, for your interest in this story.
> 
> ~Nox


	13. A Simple and Clean Soul

BEEP! BEEP!

The loud beeping finally roused a response from the dark haired girl in her bed. Her silver eyes slowly opened as her hand found her alarm clock. As the beeping stopped, her sleepy eyes immediately shut again.

"Oh no you don't, Ruby Rose! Get up!" A loud, boisterous voice announced as suddenly the girl called Ruby found herself being dragged out of her makeshift bunk. Ruby opened her eyes and identified the culprit. Her older sister, Yang Xiao Long, with a monstrous grip on her ankle dragged the young girl from the safety of the covers.

"No, please 5 more minutes," Ruby responded in as small and cute of a voice as she could muster. She had stayed up most of the night studying. Though her intentions were not all that noble. Truth was she had been having nightmares. Seeing things that had scared night after night kept her from any real sleep since she could not make any sense of them. At first it felt like she had been watching the life of a stranger when a young boy was cast away from island home and going on crazy adventures. His life had played out in her dreams night after night, and most recently creatures with yellow eyes that stalked after her and her teammates. That spiky haired boy falling in battle, and dark figures standing dominant and letting the darkness consume all.

Yang's strong grip was deceptive for the buxom blonde but Yang was nothing if not a confident warrior. The two did not look like sisters, but they more than acted like it. "No Ruby, you said that thirty minutes ago when you got dressed and then fell asleep again," Yang demanded. This seemed to spur Ruby as a knowing coo came from her lips as she finally, and half willingly, started getting out of bed.

A girl's presence was suddenly made known climbing down from the opposite bunk. "You two certainly know how to wake up the whole building, don't you?" Climbing out of the bunk stacked on books, was Blake Belladonna. A dark haired girl whose narrow face contained angular facial features and even a bow on her head that shared a striking resemblance to cat ears. Truth be told, that was exactly what she was hiding under the bow but she was not ready for her classmates outside of her team to know just yet. This moment was further interrupted by their local ivory "stick-in-the-mud."

"Don't encourage them, Blake, it is bad enough that they already act like this. You don't have to make it worse for the rest of us," the white haired, white clad young lady spoke with a very knowing frustration. This was very obviously not the first time that Weiss Schnee had dealt with the antics of these sisters before.

The one referred to as Blake responded calmly, "You take little things way too seriously Weiss. Please calm down, we aren't even in class yet and we're trying to enjoy our morning."

"Yeah!" Chimed the sisters still half fighting the getting up process with Ruby now on the ground but her eyes were closed again. The four girls all stood for a moment to take in the idea of each other in this situation. This moment brought a small smile to each girl's face. The four of them had already been through so much together, and moments like this had been rarer than they should have been. A couple minutes of preparation later, the four were all out the door in their battle gear. Today's schedule had been completely booked by combat training class. For good reason, as coming up was a great tournament as part of the upcoming festival. Each Kingdom of Remnant's school sending their students to Vale to fight for their honor and come together in spirit and combat to share the value of their profession. The job of being Hunters and Huntresses.

Ruby yawned and her thoughts went back to her dreams. They had started shortly after four lights were reported to have fallen from the sky out near her home island of Patch. This was two weeks ago and since then her dreams have been plagued with yellow eyes and the color blue. Every nightmare would always end with a weapon lashing out from the darkness around her and just as it would hit her, she would wake up. Her lack of sleep had not gone unnoticed by her team, so Ruby had started trying to make it look like it was reasons other than her dreams. Studying, late night video games, maintenance on her weapon, anything so they would not worry about her.

Another thing that started shortly after the lights falling was rumors about a team that would be arriving for the Vytal Festival as special guests of Beacon, invited by the Headmaster himself. If the rumors were to be believed, then they were a group trained outside of the academies as some kind of experimental training regimine. It was tough to ignore the rumors but Team RWBY (Ruby) were not all that concerned. The likelihood of the students being anything particularly special was low and even if they were, it was not like the rest of the student body had not been working just as hard to be as good.

"I heard one of them is giant." "I hear two of them are REAL cute." "I hope I get to meet 'em." "I heard that their leader is no older than any of us but is considered a first class swordsman!"

The undercurrents of rumors basically all agreed on one thing though, if they were anything like the rumors, then they were all pretty incredible. This facet of their underlying popularity was probably the thing that fired Weiss up the most.

"I just don't understand how they can be so spoken of without ever having been actually judged on their performance at an Academy. I am the top of our dueling class and yet no one bats an eye at me. At least Pyrrha had the fame before from winning tournaments from her time before coming to Beacon," Weiss ranted after over hearing the latest gossip.

Blake had her nose in a book but replied, "People like to look for things outside of the norm. The fact they are supposed to be participating in the Vytal Festival despite not being members of an Academy is as different as you can come. And even if their performance is mediocre at best, you can't even knock them for it since it stems from a life outside of our regular training."

"So, you're telling me that by virtue of them coming from strange circumstances, even if they perform under the margin, people are still going to be impressed?" Weiss demanded.

Yang however answered, "Weiss, why do you care? It doesn't change that you're a top performing student here does it? Now play 'ice' and cool it."

A sudden booing could be heard from nearby as it appeared one of their classmates had heard the word play. When Yang looked to see who did it she found the energetic, orange haired Nora Valkyrie looking at her with a mischievous grin. Before the two could engage however, Nora's lifelong friend and teammate Lie Ren put a hand on the back of her collar and pulled her back. Apparently hiding some impressive strength in his green robe. Simultaneously, Blake grabbed Yang by the back of the collar without looking from her book.

"No," Blake and Ren said at the same time.

"Yeah, last time you started a fight we all got in trouble for destroying the cafeteria," complained the blond boy who approached. His name was Jaune Arc and he was mild-mannered young man with a bit of a ladies man mentality. Following up behind all of them was the beautiful gladiator, Pyrrha Nikos. The redhead followed behind her team with a gentle smile and certain serene peace to her as she watched their antics.

"Hey, they fixed it right up, right?" Yang said with a shrug as Blake let her go. "Although maybe you have a point about doing it in the main building. The cafeteria is separate for a reason I think. Maybe they predicted food fights happening when they built the place."

Weiss began digging toe into the ground as she moped, "Why doesn't anyone care about these rumors bugging me?"

Ren simply leaned towards her and replied, "You just have to be willing to let information like that pass right through. If it ends up meaning anything, then we will just have to wait and find out." Weiss could not say that it made her feel any better but it made too much sense for her to ignore it.

Ruby was watching the whole interaction but something caught her eye down the hall towards the practice arena. Focusing on the sight of silver hair in a deep red jacket, with two coattails and a pronounced buckled collar, blue haired Faunus with a short black coat over a black and gold vest and tight shorts under a long feathery blue half skirt, brown twintails in well fitting fur-lined grey jacket and black denim skirt over white capris, and a familiar crop of spiky brown hair in what appeared to be a black formal top, shorts, and a black wrapping over his eyes.

Ruby looked back to the group to find Pyrrha laughing at the sight of Nora powerlifting Jaune, yelling something about being ready for the festival. Ren attempted to get her to drop Jaune, who was stiff as a board. This drew a laugh out of Ruby as well. The eight of them headed off to the practice arena and sat up in the upper stands. The practice arena was quite a bit more crowded than usual. Another school's students began showing up for the Festival and it made the school crowded. However, both Team RWBY and their friends Team JNPR (Juniper) could not help but notice that the audience this time around was more than just students as it appeared both Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck, Professor Peter Port, and Headmaster Ozpin of Vale were there. Included in the audience was General James Ironwood of Atlas, the Headmaster of the School who had arrived in full force in the days prior. Ruby in particular, noticed that none of the four she had caught sight of before were currently in the audience.

Down below in the arena was a very impatient looking blond woman. In her hand was a riding crop and a single crack of it against the floor silenced the student body. This was Glynda Goodwitch. When she wanted your attention, you gave it to her. "Ok, everyone take your seats. As you know, today has been scheduled to allow for a full day of combat training for the upcoming Vytal Festival next week. That being said, I am also fully aware of the rumors that have been making their way across the grounds in the last couple weeks so I would like to go ahead and put your worries to rest. Yes, there is a visiting team with us today and going into the festival. Yes, they have not been attending members of any academy or prep-school," Glynda explained quickly. A quick murmur passed through the room at this confirmation.

"And…" Glynda stressed to get everyone back on track, "they have come here today with a challenge issued. To anyone here who would like to face an unknown challenger, performing combat in as true to life fashion as possible, we have four competitors as representatives of Team SWRD (Sword). Do we have any volunteers?"

The room was still for a moment. Until a voice that surprised no one spoke out, "I would like to face one, Professor Goodwitch." All eyes turned to Pyrrha Nikos.

"Miss Nikos, please come on down to the arena. Please make any preparation you may need in the locker room if you so desire," Glynda called out, but had just barely finished before Pyrrha leapt down to join her. "So Miss Nikos, which member of Team SWRD would you like to face? Pick a letter," Glynda explained gesturing towards a projected image of four silhouetted figures, each one in reference to their letter.

Pyrrha's first instinct was to go straight to their leader, S. But, she decided that it did her classmates no favors to do so, and rob them of that type of experience. So after a few moments of deliberation, she finally announced, "I would like to face their fourth member. D."

Glynda nodded and replied, "Understood. Dante Redgrave has been chosen. Please enter the arena, Dante." Glynda's announcement was met with silence as the silver haired figure that Ruby had spied before entered the arena. Everyone getting a good look at him now could see that he was a tall young man, clad in done up coat. The red and silver contrasted over otherwise dark clothes. On his back was a weapon, a large two handed sword. With a confident smirk, Dante looked to the people around him and simply waved his arms around to get people to applause. It only took to some of them as others began to question their classmates.

"My fondest greetings to you all, my name is Dante Redgrave. And Pyrrha Nikos, you will fumble in your opposition of my quest," Dante announced as he waxed poetic about how he was about to win his fight with Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl. Whatever doubts about him the audience may have had, they were dashed to the rocks with his opening. However, where some may have found him pretentious, the expression on his face, the fun in his eyes made everyone understand two things. The first was that to Dante, this fight was one big game. The second thing was that Dante came to win.

Pyrrha snapped her arms down and her both her sword and shield found their way to her hands as she raised them into a battle ready pose. Up in the stands, Yang asked her team, "Where do you think he is getting his confidence from?"

* * *

Two weeks prior…

"So can we talk about how I am a teenager? Again?" Dante asked. "Can we end up somewhere where I can just stay an adult?"

Rise walked past him and said, "If it makes you feel any better, teenage you is a certified heartthrob." The comment was nothing Dante could not deal with, though the wink was certainly something extra.

Aqua lifted herself from the hole she had made, hummed and then added, "You wear it well."

Dante nodded slowly as he tried to find the words to continue communicating his thoughts. "So, how many more worlds are we going to go to that keeps me young?" he asked jokingly. The group got a nice laugh on his flip-flopped opinion. They finally looked around at their environment to find themselves in what appeared to be a forest filled with red leaves that were in a perpetual state of falling.

"Wow," Rise said looking around. "The place is beautiful!"

A sudden voice replied, "Well I am certainly glad to hear you say that. Am I correct in assuming that you are the source of the four falling lights?" All four of them turned to see a grey haired man in a fancy looking dark green suit, holding a teacup and a cane. "My apologies for startling you. My name is Professor Ozpin. I am the headmaster of the Beacon School for Huntsmen and Huntresses. Would it be at all possible that any of you happen to wield a weapon known as the keyblade?"

The group was not sure how to deal with this man, but both Sora and Aqua. "How do you know about the weapon?" Aqua asked from the back of the group.

"Let's see, I believe it was around 80 years ago? In the aftermath of our world's Great War we were visited by a man who went by the name of Yen Sid. Showed up as a falling light as well, though considering your craters back there, he seemed to be better at it. He had shown up to assist in dealing with some forces that were attempting to compel our Kingdoms into backing out of the meeting on Vytal. We never successfully identified the one responsible at the time, but shortly after the treaties were made my dear friend Yen Sid disappeared, stating that he had responsibilities to take care of at the time."

"You knew Master Yen Sid when he was young?" Sora asked.

Ozpin nodded. "He was certainly wise for his age. And I am glad to hear that it sounds like he took on students," Ozpin said with a small smile.

"Well he did, but neither of us are him," Sora said sheepishly.

Aqua clarified, "Sora here is a student of Master Yen Sid's student. My master was a friend of him though. If you don't mind my asking, how are you so young if you knew Master Yen Sid back then?"

Ozpin thought for a moment before answering, "Try to summon your Keyblade for me."

"Try?" Dante asked.

Sora held his hand out and called his Keyblade. Or at least he would have, if anything had happened. "What? Why can't I summon it?" Sora asked and he looked over at Aqua. Aqua tried to do the same and nothing happened. "What did you do?" Sora asked.

"I am afraid that it is nothing that I did," Ozpin replied. "Magic is a rare commodity here in Remnant. It was a lesson that Yen Sid had to learn back then as well. The reason I bring it up is because Magic is rare but not completely non-existent."

Dante caught onto his meaning and he replied, "So you're implying that you're magic? And that things that weren't already magic here are restricted by the rules of the world?"

"Right you are, young man," Ozpin answered. "Very little magic is stronger than the natural order of any world. For instance, the magic that is keeping you as young as you look right now. Or has made your friend show up here with blue cat ears."

The group spun back to look at Aqua and they were shocked to see, a pair of dainty cat ears, covered in fur the same shade as her hair, planted atop her head. Aqua slowly reached up with her hand and as she was about to get a full feel of one of them, it flipped involuntarily. Her face took on several shades of pink.

"Aqua," Rise began slowly. "That is so CUUUTE!" The squeal that escaped Rise could not help but bring a smile to Sora's face. Rise began to reach for them herself. Aqua lightly slapped her hands away as she covered her head.

"But yes, that is the only magic I have seen that has successfully over written the rules of this world, but it is so subtle no one would ever really know it was happening without thorough knowledge of magic," Ozpin reiterated getting everyone's attention again.

Dante hummed in thought. Rise however seemed particularly distressed by that information. "So what should we do? We're here to look for a keyhole, but how is Sora supposed to lock it if her can't use it?" she asked.

Ozpin gestured for the group to follow him. He led them through the forest as he spoke again. "Yen Sid had certainly had a similar concern at the time. However, you may find that some of your abilities are not as far away from you as may be afraid of. There is something here called an Aura. The Aura is the manifestation of the soul and as unique as every soul is, so too are the powers given by that Aura. We call those powers, Semblance. Yen Sid discovered his abilities through it, even if he had to manifest them differently. Which is why I took such an interest in coming to find you all," Ozpin explained. "I have a proposition for you, if you are willing to hear it."

Dante stepped forward and with a grin and said, "This sounds like a job. What are you offering?"

Ozpin raised his teacup as a toast and replied, "I take you into our tutelage, provide you material to craft weapons, help you access your aura. In exchange, you all help me protect my world from the forces that are undoubtedly conspiring against it. I can give you a cover story that gets you into the area and then it will just be up to you to act as students. Deal?"

"Sounds like we are going to need the help," Rise said out loud.

Aqua nodded and said, "I see no reason to not help him. Clearly he knew Master Yen Sid."

"This does sound like a job to me," Dante said liking where this was going. "The idea has got my support."

Sora put his hands behind his head and added, "Well, what are we waiting for? You got a deal, Ozpin."

* * *

Nobody in the room was sure how to respond to Dante's confidence. He had still not drawn his weapon. Pyrrha stood across from Dante ready for the fight ahead of her. She noticed that Dante's gaze fell on her weapons. With a genuine curiosity he asked her, "You got a name for them? Your weapons?"

"Miló and Akoúo̱," Pyrrha replied. "How about yours?"

Dante drew the giant two handed sword from his back and presented it to her with a flourish. The weapon was a dark steel blade with pale metallic barrells down the center. The weapon appeared to have triggers under the cross guard, from what Pyrrha could tell. It was a beautiful weapon, one that was clearly made with a lot of care. Dante then announced, "This is Monochrome Rebellion."

"I am glad to hear that the weapon means enough to be named. Steel yourself Dante Redgrave. Fight with all your might, as I will," Pyrrha replied.

Dante lifted the blade up onto his shoulder and with a nod he ever so slightly bent his knees to signal he was ready to fight. Glynda walked to the side of the arena and after a few moments of silence in the room declared, "Begin!"

Pyrrha dashed forward with her shield ahead of her and lunged her sword. Dante rotated his body and let the blade miss him. When she swung outward in the direction he rotated, he brought his blade forward to block the attack and lashed his foot forward. She blocked it with her shield and bounced back a step. Pyrrha then jumped forward this time and the two of them began to exchange attacks, blocks, and dodges. To the audience, it was unclear if either fighter had an advantage.

With a single step forward, Dante was airborne. His sword a whirlwind of destruction as he spun at the last moment to swing at his opponent. Pyrrha's shield absorbed the blow as she steadied her feet on the ground. Dante, still airborne, pressed off her shield and swung his sword back around to the other side. Miló, in a split moment, transformed into a spear and Pyrrha rotated her shield to block the attack as she stabbed the spear behind her back towards Dante. He dashed backwards almost as if pushing off of the air. Having barely held back the momentum of Monochrome Rebellion, Pyrrha needed to change things fast. Dante was unlike any other warrior she had faced before. He was unconventional, undisciplined, and even creative. But worst of all, he was strong, and he knew it. Dante landed lightly on the ground his sword landing lightly on his shoulder.

"You are certain that you have never gone to one of the schools?" Pyrrha asked. "Your fighting is far too skilled to have been self taught."

"'Self-taught' and 'never been to school' are not synonymous, Pyrrha. I have had plenty of teachers, my father most of all," Dante replied.

"I have not heard the family name 'Redgrave.' What does your family do?" Pyrrha asked while she continued trying to figure out what she was needing to do to fight him.

Dante shrugged and replied, "I would be more surprised if you had. My family is long gone. Father, mother, and brother." Pyrrha flinched for a moment but decided to not dwell on it. She could not have known. Dante pointed his blade at her. "I think it is about time we end this, huh?"

"You're right," Pyrrha replied and charged forward.

Dante put his sword on the ground and raised his hand. "I will resign from the fight," he announced. Pyrrha stopped mid-swing and looked at the man bewildered. Before she could ask him why, Dante continued. "Maybe, I came off a bit over-confident, but to be honest I can tell when I'm beat. You truly are impressive as they say, Pyrrha." Dante turned away from the arena proceeded to leave. The students above gave a round of applause. Of course, Pyrrha would win.

"As I expected," Weiss scoffed.

Blake kept a soft gaze but her tone was troubled, "He held back. Not only did he face off against our grade's most impressive student, he was holding back. He's not ready to make a scene here. With Pyrrha winning, he guarantees something new to show off later."

Pyrrha turned to the opposite locker room entrance and made her way out of the arena. "Why did he give up? He was actually winning," she said to herself. She made her way back up to join her team, receiving adulation the whole way back to them.

Meanwhile, down in the arena, Glynda made her way back to the center of the arena. Another swift crack of the riding crop silenced the room. "That certainly was an exciting fight, I am sure. But it is time for another student to come on down to continue this lesson," Glynda announced.

The next person to speak up surprised some and was practically predicted by others. A brutish lad with short hair and a broad stature. "I am ready to fight one of 'em!" yelled Cardin. It was clear that he had been given some confidence from the last fight. Like Pyrrha, he jumped into the arena, unlike Pyrrha, he was less than graceful and landed with a sizable thud. "I want to fight W."

Glynda nodded. She turned back to the entrance and called out, "Aqua Wayfinder, please enter the arena."

The blue haired, blue cat ear toting young woman clad in black, gold, and blue, entered the arena with a graceful gait. Her entrance was met with a muted excitement as people were still riding the high of the first fight. In Aqua's hand was an interesting segmented blade, that seemed to be split down the middle of the blade.

Cardin stood there, put his mace on his shoulder mimicking how Dante had been before his own fight and said in a mocking tone, "Well hey there, little lady. Hope I don't hurt you too bad, kitty-cat." Shortly before Aqua had entered the arena, Dante had taken a seat up above and the look on his face was less than happy with the situation.

Aqua looked back to him and just shook her head, cat ear twitching. "I have wandered in darkness that would consume a normal person. Cardin, I will be holding back for your sake," Aqua responded somewhat vaguely. Her face was even, but her tone wavered as she spoke. She then struck a pose signalling she was ready for combat. Cardin also readied himself for combat, looking a little irritated at her comment. "Looks like we are doing this the hard way."


	14. Wayfinder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Hey guys! So I wanted to share some fun trivia about this story and design choices for the character clothes while in the world of Remnant. So I have had multiple different drafts of this story with different line ups of character by the time we got to the world of Remnant, particularly in spots three and four with Sora and Dante having been cemented in from the beginning. In this chapter and next chapter, I'll let you see some behind the scenes of my drafting this story. Stick around 'till the end of the chapter to find out about the outfit for Rise and the 3rd Party members Rise ultimately ended up replacing.

One week, 5 days prior…

Sora, Rise, Aqua, and Dante were all busy at work on making weapons so they were armed while they were on Remnant. Ozpin had been explaining to them as much as they needed to know in order to pass as residents. While they took to the idea of Aura, Semblances, Weapons, Dust, and Grimm, they were finally caught up on the topic of names.

"So what do you mean we need to change our names?" Rise asked putting down a weapon component she was struggling with. This really seemed to catch her off guard and even Dante, who was already hard at work on the finer inner workings of his weapon, had to put the tool he was using down to focus on the conversation.

Ozpin, the patient saint he seemed to be, explained, "After the Great War, the war that started by the idea of criminalizing art and expression to get people to suppress emotions as a chance to get the Grimm to be less interested in high population areas, we decided that it would be a good thing to embrace art, which is why so many people were named after colors or music. Things that evoked art and imagination. Whether it be your first or last name, something to embrace the things that we deemed important enough to go to war for."

"Aqua is associated with water, which is often known to be Blue," Rise said. "Why does she also have to modify her name?"

Ozpin laughed and then answered, "Because she is missing her last name. The first name is fine, but the lack of a last name is not going to go over well for your mission."

Sora nodded. "We don't want to work against the order of the world. So it just needs to be associated with a color or music or art?" Sora clarified.

Ozpin hummed in affirmation.

The group thought for a few moments before Dante finally blurted out, "Redgrave. Dante Redgrave. It is from my past, it will be easy to remember."

"Highwind! Name it after the Gummi Ship," Sora declared proudly.

"Wayfinder," Aqua said with a gentle smile. "It will remind me of what's important."

Rise though for a few more minutes really trying to get to the bottom of what she wanted to change her first or last name to, in order to fit in society. After a few botched ideas, she finally said, "River. Rise River. As a translation from the '-Kawa' portion of my last name."

Ozpin replied, "Those will all certainly work. Have any of you made any progress on identifying your Semblances?"

* * *

The student body waited for the start of the fight as Aqua Wayfinder had so thoroughly captivated the audience. Mysterious and confident was a good combination for a fighter. Cardin seemed to be a bit steamed after her remarks. Glynda Goodwitch was particularly interested in this fight due to what she had heard from the Headmaster.

"Begin!"

Dante immediately called out, "Aqua! Thrash 'im."

Cardin jumped forward with the mace over his head and he slammed the weapon down. Aqua jumped forward, planting her free hand on the ground she threw herself out of the way and as Cardin's mace hit the ground Aqua lashed her weapon out and smacking him in the back with her weapon. Cardin stumbled forward and he then spun around to swing wildly at Aqua. Cardin's weapon was stopped moments before the expected impact. With a hop forward, Aqua stabbed her weapon into the ground and she pulled the trigger of her weapon. A copy of her weapon made of fire was left behind and as she retreated backwards, it exploded and sent Cardin flying backwards.

Bouncing off the wall, Cardin got his feet under him and he charged forward with his weapon flailing about. Aqua went about blocking each attack. The mass of his weapon was a concern so she had to focus on angling her weapon to redirect the momentum. He was not a weak fighter by any means, but he was far too emotional. Cardin's weapon embedded into the ground then swung it back across. Aqua jumped over the weapon and with a small spin, planted her weapon against his side. It was clear to the audience, that Cardin was no Pyrrha. But it was also clear that Aqua was a much more disciplined fighter than Dante.

"Quit dancing around!" Cardin roared as he swung his mace just a little faster than before. Aqua was finally caught off guard by the speed increase she was flung back and caused her to slide to a stop on the far side of the arena. Cardin growled as he then charged to follow after her to keep the pressure off of him. Aqua quickly twisted her legs and generated enough momentum to get back on her feet just as Cardin's mace slammed down on the area she had been. Aqua performed a handspring backwards to avoid the upswing. She was starting to formulate a pretty accurate idea of who the brute in front of her was as a fighter. He was physically strong and an aggressive warrior. However, his temperament was his weakness. Aqua just needed to out-maneuver him and take advantage of his temper.

After several more clashes, Aqua finally dropped Cardin. If anything could be said about him, it was that he knew how to take a punishment. Glynda stepped in and declared, "The winner by Aura Level is Aqua Wayfinder."

"Maybe she should have been the one to fight Pyrrha," Yang remarked. "Certainly would have been the more interesting fight than either of these."

"I am very interested in what happened before with Cardin's attack that seemed to get stuck mid-swing," Ren commented. "It seemed to be Semblance related."

Ruby added, "So that is one forfeit and one win for Team SWRD. What do we think the next two are going to be?" The two teams thought for a moment before Yang finally said, "Only one way to find out." She stood up and made her way down to the arena side.

Before Glynda could ask for a new student, Yang dropped down into the arena. "Miss Xiao Long, while I appreciate your enthusiasm it is only polite to wait for me to ask for participation. Since you are down here, we have two remaining members of Team SWRD. Who would you like to face off against?"

Yang hit her fists together and confidently replies, "Give me R."

Glynda looked back to the entrance and called out, "Yang Xiao Long has chosen to fight Rise River. Miss River when you are ready, please enter the arena."

After a brief pause, the twin-tailed brunette Ruby saw back before class started entered the arena. If the collective gulping sounds of every guy in the room were not enough of an indicator, she was an incredibly pretty girl. The fur lined coat she wore hid some of her figure but the skirt did nothing to disguise the fact that she seemed to have legs for days. As she got to the center of the arena she suddenly produced a microphone on a short staff, put headphones on and with a small dance step, she pointed to the audience.

"Hello everybody! My name is Rise and I hope I am able to put on a performance that none of you will ever forget!" she announced into the microphone. This got a big uproar out of the boys who it seemed were now fully enraptured with her. Rise then turned to Yang and with a big smile said, "Ready to put on a show?."

Yang was not sure how to respond to this girl. On the one hand, she was clearly a performer, but on the other hand, she also seemed like she was not much of a fighter. "I am not going to hold back," Yang said as her gauntlets extended.

"Believe me, I know," Rise replied.

* * *

4 Days Prior...

Rise and Dante stood across from each both with their hands in front of them. The two of them traded swings, each one getting blocked or parried. This had been something they would do for hours since they started learning about Remnant. Rise was not comfortable in battle without active access to Himiko and so Dante, Aqua, and Sora took turns trying to get her more comfortable in combat. Eventually it just fell to Dante who Rise seemed to learn the most from, in this type of training.

"You are getting really good, Rise," Dante complimented. "With the use of your semblance and getting me to think I am hearing things you are effectively throwing me off balance. Making me want to defend against attacks when I can't confirm your position is a great use of your special ability to help supplement your regular combat. Between that and the predictive secondary ability of your semblance, you keep up with the fight a lot better than most seasoned fighters."

"Thank you, Dante."

"Let me just give you a couple pieces of advice. Even with your predictive abilities, an attack that is too fast for you is still too fast for you, right? Might be worth your time to think ahead on how to deal with getting hit by it rather than always thinking about trying to block it or dodge it. Second, an attack that is too strong for you to block must be dodged at any opportunity, right? Maybe not. If you can, try thinking about countering to interrupt the attack. Successful countering can weaken attacks substantially. Things to think about right?"

Rise nodded and smiled as they finished they their training for that day. She went back to work on her weapon which was still not quite coming together the way she had hoped. After attempting to make more adjustments, she dropped the tool in her hand and heaved a sigh.

Aqua looked over at her and joined her at the work table. "You seem frustrated," Aqua commented casually.

Rise looked over at her new friend and teacher. "I just am not sure I actually know what I want this weapon to do anymore," Rise said looking at the fragments of a weapon in front of her. Aqua looked down at all the pieces and recognized the design of a microphone and a microphone stand.

"You want it to look as much like your usual weapon as you can?" Aqua asked. Rise nodded. "So, microphone's can increase volume, move audio to locations away from the source. How would that directly help you?"

"That is the problem. How can I use it effectively for battle outside of my use of it with my Persona?" Rise asked slightly exacerbated.

Aqua hummed in thought. "Well maybe a break in concentration would be just enough in addition to the use of some form of blunt staff and maybe a firearm, but just make sure to bring some earplugs," Aqua suggested with a smile as she made her way away from the frustrated idol. Rise looked down at the weapon and tried to think about what Aqua had just suggested.

Going through her thoughts and memories, she suddenly thought of Yosuke. He would wear headphones in combat. He was always listening to music during combat. Was that him keeping out noise distractions? Rise grabbed the pieces and got to work. Maybe this was the reason she wanted to make this weapon. Everyone was counting on her back then, she wanted to be just as supportive here. Nothing would stop her now.

* * *

Rise's fighting stance had a bounce in her step as she held her microphone weapon and seemed to be keeping to the rhythm of whatever was playing in her headphones. Glynda Goodwitch looked to both of the combatants and then announced, "Begin!"

Yang leapt forward firing her gauntlet's behind her. Drawing her right hand into a prepared right strike, Yang wanted to finish this in one hit to show the school that these kids were not all that special. However, her opponent was ready to show that they were entirely as special as they made themselves look. Rise's hand lashed out and she pushed Yang's swing away and then slammed the microphone stand into Yang's side. Landing on her feet, Yang swung her fists at a fast rate and the fight was perhaps the most interesting the student body has witnessed so far.

Rise's movements were very practiced and every exchange from these two combatants almost looked like a choreographed fight. Between strings of punches, Rise landed small jabs and pokes with her weapon. However, Rise started noticing that Yang's blows seemed to be getting harder and simple blocks were not quite enough to hold back the onslaught after a few moments. Rise began performing more solid blocks and the fight seemed to slow in the face of these powerful blows.

Yang leapt up and attempted to drop her fist down on top of Rise who jumped backward. She flipped her microphone in hand and was wielding it like more of a baton now. Rise was now on the back foot as she was trying to keep up with the fact that she could no longer directly just block Yang's attacks. A powerful wind up was just the moment Rise was looking for at this point. So when she saw Yang's intent was to try and slam her down in one hit, she lunged forward and jammed the end of the weapon into the inside of Yang's arm. This completely halted the progress of the swing as Yang tried to work through the pain. Pulling the trigger of her weapon, Rise launched Yang back off the weapon and the resulting energy caused a massive amount of smoke. Now was the time for her to work her more active Semblance. Rise ran through the smoke and her eyes took on an ever so slight blue shine and her trap was beginning to be set.

Yang was not sure what do at this point. As the smoke had been filling up the immediate area, she could not tell what she was hearing while her vision was basically useless to her. It sounded like there were footsteps happening in basically every direction. Punching her gauntlet in the direction of the loudest one, she hoped that her shots were landing on something. The impact on the back of her head told her otherwise. Her eyes flared red a moment before she turned around and caught sight of twintails disappearing into the haze. Yang leapt forward to swing at Rise when she heard her voice behind her.

"Wrong way," Rise taunted and Yang spun back around. The air before her was empty. Yang's eyes went wide at the realization. Someone was messing with her hearing, it must have been a semblance. Yang closed her eyes and tried to focus on the only other sense she could trust. Her sense of touch. She would have to settle for estimations of her opponent position based on the vibrations in the floor. It took her a few moments and she finally got an idea of what Rise dashing around was like. Yang launched herself forward and landed a powerful blow against the girl.

Rise was sent flying back as Yang continued to follow up. Rise managed to get her feet beneath her before she collided with the wall. Kicking off onto the ground, Rise ducked under the follow up swing. Rise rolled to her feet and swung her weapon up at Yang, who caught it knocked Rise back. Yang straddled her now down opponent and began to rain blows down on her. Rise felt her aura falter and knew she needed to turn this around immediately or this fight was over. Barely managing to move her head out of the way of a downward punch, Rise swung her baton up into Yang's face sending her back a bit. Rise got back up on to her feet and the two of them leapt forward. Both of their attacks hit each other in the face and both of them were launched backwards as it seemed they were both reaching their limit. As Rise slid to a stop at the base of the wall she heard Glynda announce, "Due to simultaneous aura level depletion, this round will be counted as a tie."

Rise struggled back to her feet and she walked over to Yang. "Great fight," Rise said with a happy smile and she offered a hand to her former opponent. Yang took the hand offered to her and got back to her feet. "Sorry for messing with your head by the way," Rise continued sheepishly.

Yang shook her head and replied, "Your misdirection was top-notch. You really 'Rise'-d to the occasion."

Rise giggled and replied, "I don't think that was how that joke was supposed to go. I didn't hit you too hard did I?" The two of them left the arena and made their individual ways back up to the stands to join their teams. Glynda down in the arena was joined by Professor Ozpin who seemed to share a few words with her before leaving. His presence did not go unnoticed as the general energy went from excited to curious. Glynda sighed and then looked up as she cracked her riding crop on the ground.

"As it seems that people have saved the leader of Team SWRD for last, Professor Ozpin has requested that I leave this fight only open to other team leaders. Are there any team leaders who would like to fight?" Glynda asked the student body. People were rather curious about this announcement. But two people decided to throw their hats in the ring. Ruby and Jaune both stood up with their hands in the air.

"I'll do it!" they both announced.

Glynda looked at both of them and seemed to be about to object to both of them participating when a spikey-haired teen entered the arena with a formal looked suit in shorts and some kind of dark wrap over his eyes. He spoke to Glynda and after a few words exchanged he nodded to her and then put his hands behind his head.

"Sora Highwind of Team SWRD has offered to do battle with both of you in a free-for-all match," Glynda told the two of them. Ruby and Jaune were both surprised by the offer. "While it is a little unorthodox, I cannot deny that you may find yourself in a situation one day where you are fighting in a fight against nothing but enemies who have no allies. Conflicts of interest are part of what makes the job of a hunter or huntress as complicated but important as we have been teaching you."

Ruby made her way down and jumped into the ring, ready to fight. Jaune was quite a bit more cautious but with a supportive smile from Pyrrha, he made his way down as well. The two of them looked at Sora and the first thing that came to mind was, could he see them?

"Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc have chosen to participate in a free-for-all fight with Sora Highwind. All participants, please get ready," Glynda announced. Sora adjusted his long sleeves but otherwise seemed unarmed. Ruby let her gun transform into its full scythe shaped glory. Jaune unsheathed his sword and let his shield pop out into place. "Begin!"

Sora flicked his right arm out and extending out of his sleeves and attached to braces on his arm was a chain like structures that snapped into place as an extended blade. It then clicked into place and was now in his hand like a normal blade. Flipping forward from his other wrist was revolver style gun it. Ruby launched herself forward by firing her gun backward, she wanted the first try on the new student. Sora clocked the attack with the sword, it then wrapped around the scythe as Sora pulled her forward and kicked her back. It then released her weapon with her disarmed. Jaune followed up trying to attack Sora. Sora's blade spiraled around and formed into a shield blocking his attack. Sora deflected the blade and swung low and popped Jaune up and over his shield. Jaune landed with a heavy thud on the ground behind him. Ruby got up and ran for her weapon. Sora pointed his gun over at her and fired. Ruby dashed forward and took the form of rose petals as she dodged the shot and then scooped up her weapon off the ground.

Ruby skid to a stop, using the edge of her scythe to stop herself. Her weapon pointed at Sora now she pulled the trigger three times. Sora blocked the first two, but the third shot found his shoulder. The blades extended back out except for the end which maintained a hook shape. Sora bobbed and weaved through her shots. He swung the weapon at her, but Ruby twisted her body under the handled put her feet up over the top. Pulling the trigger again, she flipped backwards through the air avoiding his followup attack. Sora looked down at his gun and seemed to flip a switch on it. As Jaune got up onto his feet, Sora turned the gun his direction without looking and as he pulled the trigger, two bullets were launched. The two dust bullets however, combined in midair as a massive burst of ice that flew from the end of gun. It did its job well, however in addition to freeze Jaune from the waist down it froze over his hand.

"Oops! Too close," Sora commented with a goofy grin. He folded the blade back over into the shield form of the weapon. Ruby leapt on the opportunity to attack him as he began trying to break his hand out. Sora barely dropped under the swing as he lashed his foot out at Ruby. Trying to smash the ice was taking a lot of effort, Ruby's followup attack hit him in the arm and Sora had to push his Aura at the point of impact to try and lessen the impact. "Give me a moment, please," Sora asked as he threw off her next attack. One more impact with the shield finally broke his hand free. Jaune struggled against the ice as much as he could, but with no movement at all, he was resigned to his fate for the time being.

Sora turned back to Ruby with another goofy smile. "Wanna wrap this up?" Sora asked.

Ruby nodded and replied, "Time for me to take the win!" She fired her gun backwards and flew through the air. As she became airborne, Ruby twisted through the air and transformed back into petals. Reforming, she slid just past him and put her scythe around the front him. Sora crouched down slightly and braced the shield form of his weapon in front of the blade. Pulling the trigger, Ruby watched as Sora flew backwards into her, unharmed. Having been knocked over by his momentum, Ruby found herself at the end of a blade. Sora's sword gone back to the straightened setting.

"Good fight, Ruby!" He complimented with a small smile on his face.

"This will be a strategic victory on behalf of Sora," Glynda announced. "If this fight were to continue, it would likely leave the result unchanged. Congratulations, Mr. Highwind." The blade retracted back into his sleeve and the gun followed suit. He offered his now free hand to her. Ruby took it tentatively and he pulled her back to a standing position. He lowered the wrap around his eyes down around his neck and for just a brief moment, Ruby was lost in an ocean of blue. Immediately shaking away the moment, she looked at the goofy smile and could not help but smile back. Even if she was disappointed from losing the fight.

* * *

The class would proceed like normal after as students would be called upon to challenge others and the whole day was dedicated to this practice. As the students were let out, Team RWBY and Team JNPR headed back to their dorm rooms. Though the two teams eventually ended up in the RWBY dorm room.

"So, Team SWRD…" Ruby started casually. "Thoughts?"

"I'll tell you one thing!" Nora started loudly. "They sure are well trained for no-shoolers!"

Ren nodded and added, "They do seem very impressive. It would not surprise me if they actively perform hunting missions."

"Yeah, but kinda don't like that we know basically nothing about Dante. His forfeit was intentional, right?" Yang added. "Between him and that girl Rise messing with people's heads, this whole situation feels 'sword'-a weird." The joke was met with a pillow to the face.

"Take this seriously, Yang," Weiss reprimanded her teammate. "There is something seriously strange about them. Dante has white hair, which is not very common outside of my family, Sora wears a blindfold during battle, Rise is some kind of singer, and Aqua seems to be able to stop attacks mid-swing. Individually they fight on par with trained students and still we know next to nothing about any of them."

Blake, already nose deep in a book again, replied, "Have you thought about just going and asking? They seem friendly enough." After a brief pause, both teams found themselves outside the door of Team SWRD. Blake looked around and asked, "Did you have to carry me with you? I just want to continue studying."

Pyrrha looked at her with a smile and told her, "Well we might as well be friendly to our new classmates. They did come all the way here to participate in the festival with us." Blake rolled her eyes but finally did relent and closed her book. Ruby knocked the door.

Dante answered the door and with an immediate smirk commented, "Did anybody in this school not come with you? Hey guys! We got some guests."

"Ooo, lemme see!" Called a voice inside. Slipping under Dante's arm, was Rise whose twintails swayed with her bouncing momentum. "Oh my gosh, this is more than 'some.' Hey guys!" Rise beamed at the two teams outside the door. Rise greeted them and tried to invite them into the room. Dante stepped out of the way as Rise led the eight students into the small dorm room.

Yang whistled as she looked around the room and said, "Wow, this place is almost as happening as our room." A hammock covered in sheet hung in the corner by the window. One bed was turned on its side and had another bed tucked into it like some kind of grand headboard. The other two beds had more room to fit in the rest of the dorm. Laying the hammock above was the spikey haired youth that had fought Ruby and Jaune. He looked down at the group that had showed up.

"Hey," he called down to them and then dropped down to the floor. "Welcome to our room," He scratched the back of his head looking around the completely changed room. "So, our first guests…"

"There really isn't a lot of room, in here," Aqua commented.

"Take it outside!" Nora announced triumphantly.

As Aqua began to move towards the door, she saw that Blake seemed to be distracted by the book that she had pulled out ignoring just how crowded the room had become. "Studying?" Aqua asked her. Blake looked up and then nodded. "A learned mind is a strong mind."

"You speak very candidly," Blake commented. "Do you read often?"

Aqua shrugged and replied, "Not recently." Blake looked like she wanted to ask something but seemed to bite her tongue. "If you have a question, go ahead and ask."

Aqua's friendly smile inspired Blake to go ahead and ask, "You mentioned back during class that you had wandered in darkness, does that have something to do with your not being able to read recently?"

Aqua looked a little sad for a moment and then answered, "Too accurate to say. To be honest, I didn't mean to make such a dramatic comment to that boy, Cardin. But something about him pulled a needlessly aggressive tone out of me."

Blake inhaled sharply for a moment like a silent laugh. "He gets that reaction out of a lot of people," Blake remarked bitterly. "Especially, Faunus. He takes delight in picking on them. Makes me sick sometimes seeing him."

Meanwhile, as the group began to filter out of the room, Yang was happy to see Blake managed to make a bond with one of them. Turning to Dante she said, "Good to see those two are bonding over books. What about you, handsome?" However, Dante raised a hand in a shrug. "Well, that was a let down. You seem way too fun to be such a prude," Yang commented disappointed.

Rise however swooped in and remarked, "You know, maybe he has someone elsewhere?" The blond looked back at Dante and then Rise. She smirked, raised her hand in surrender, and backed off. "No... no," Rise suddenly proclaimed after realizing the conclusion on which Yang's mind decided to land. "It isn't like that! Yang, it isn't like that!" Rise chased after Yang through the doorway.

Sora watched everyone's antics as he followed up the rear of the whole group. Seemed like this was going to be the big test. How convincing could his team be in the face of multiple angles of scrutiny? Finally leaving the room, with a nervous exhale he closed the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third Party Members: Hinata Hyuga (Naruto/Naruto Shippuden) and Yu Narukami (Persona 4 pre-Arena specifically) had both been in previous drafts of the story. So Rise's outfit is a Fur-lined coat inspired by Hinata and a denim skirt like the black pants of the Inaba School Uniform while still maintaining the white capris from her normal outfit. Hinata was removed due to a lack of ideas on where and how to implement my story into the Naruto world without going with a completely original story and Yu Narukami was ultimately replaced with Rise for a couple reasons. One, I wanted more female representation in the party in light of removing Hinata and Rise felt like the most interesting choice without feeling out of place. Two, since I decided to slide the Persona 4 timeline to the Arena era, I wanted to further play with the idea of Rise wanting to become more like a fighter.


	15. Rather Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Fourth Party Members (Aqua's Outfit): Kat (Gravity Rush) and Yuna (Final Fantasy X and X-2 versions) had both been in previous drafts as well. So Aqua's outfit has her skin tight chestpiece recolored to match the black and gold coloring of Kat's bodysuit. She is also wearing the flowing half skirt from FFX-2. I also had 2B (Neir: Automata) as fourth member, so I used the male Yorha outfit for Sora's costume in this world. I ultimately ended up not putting in Kat for this era of the story due to some difficulty in writing her action pieces and I passed on Yuna due to the Gullwings appearance in KHII and had no idea how I wanted to explain that away. 2B got cycled out for Aqua when trying to find an interesting way to explain humans being in Neir: Automata felt like I was cheapening the things Automata stood for and that I could not do it enough justice to keep it as valuable as the source material is.

The three Teams made their way to the courtyard down the walkway from the docking port of the school, exchanging introductions, before they finally all settled in and began to talk. The group seemed to naturally schism into separate groups of like minded individuals. Ruby, Jaune, and Sora all sat near the statue in the middle of the courtyard. Dante, found himself with Weiss and Pyrrha as they semi-cornered him by a tree. Rise was resting in the grass alongside Nora and Yang. Blake, Ren, and Aqua all sat calmly on a nearby concrete planter off to the side of the main path. It seemed far too perfect to be coincidence and that was because it was, very pointedly, not.

On their collective way to greet Team SWRD, both Teams RWBY and JNPR had decided that the best thing to do at this point would be to divide and conquer when trying to get information out of this 'unschooled' super team as people had begun to celebrate them after class that day. Pyrrha and Weiss wanted to know about the very strange Dante as he was a pointedly the most interesting of the group. As if on purpose and neither of them were too proud to admit that they fell for it. Meanwhile, Yang's teasing conversation had been a precursor to her and Nora's job, learning about the interpersonal dynamics of the team. Ren and Blake went with Aqua to explore more about what her comment to Cardin had meant. Finally, the team leaders wanted another leader's perspective on the breakdown of his team's strengths and weaknesses.

However, Ruby had a second goal to pursue and got her own teammates in on it. A simple question to the four of them. Why did they want to be Huntsmen and Huntresses? It was a question that her Professor had asked the members of her team. It was a question that she asked him and his answer had really hit home for her.

" _As a Huntsman, it is my job to protect the people, and although I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher, I'm able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it in the hands of every student that passes through my classroom. I look at this wasteland, and I see lives that could have been saved, but I also see an opportunity; an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy, and therefore become stronger. I am a Huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be."_

He may have come off as a desk-locked failed huntsman type. But he had opened Ruby's eyes to the idea that there was more to saving the world than just fighting the monsters. While she certainly did not believe that she could save the world in the way that he could, she was glad to know there were people like him and putting forth that effort. That was why the whole Team was on board. Maybe they could learn enough about these newcomers as Oobleck had learned about them.

Weiss, and to a lesser extent Pyrrha, had Dante cornered as they got ready to ask their questions. "So, Dante Redgrave, you were trained by your father?" Pyrrha asked politely.

"Mostly, I did learn some things from other teachers along the way or taught myself to fight in some ways as well. My education has been very hands on," Dante replied. "It was needed for me to survive my years without my family."

Weiss quickly interjected, "Then why did you not go to a school for training? It is clear to anyone who watched your fight that you're strong, this kind of training should have been a logical step." Her ferocity must have been tied to her complaints from earlier, Pyrrha surmised.

Dante thought for a moment before he replied, "Just liked going my own way. Side effect of independence." He punctuated the response with a shrug. "Why did you want to go to school, then? Seems like an heiress to the Schnee Dust Corporation would be given a desk job in the family business."

"So you know my family history?" Weiss asked.

Dante nodded, "You're the primary supplier of Dust to all of Remnant. Seemed like a good thing to know about the people who supply me my bullets."

"Dante, if I may ask, what was the motivation behind your weapon's design?" Pyrrha asked getting the conversation back onto him. This got a small knowing smile from him as he thoughtfully stroked his chin.

"The giant blade style of weaponry was my Father's thing. Figured it made sense to have a weapon that fit with how I was trained. The hidden tricks inside of it though are a secret," Dante replied with a mischievous undertone to his words.

"So, you were holding back!" Weiss accused him loudly.

Dante however simply shrugged and replied, "Who's to say?"

"Awful presumptuous of you to hold back against an opponent," Weiss continued.

Dante shook his head and replied, "No presumption about it. I have no doubt in my mind that had we played out our fight, I would lose. Hidden mechanisms or no." Of course he was withholding the information that he would have made it a point to throw the fight had they gone that route, but he was electing to spare them that.

"Have you and your team gone on any missions, Dante?" Pyrrha asked trying to get them back on track, again. "Our first year teams just got to do our first official missions a while ago."

Dante nodded. "Just the one with our current numbers. Otherwise, I was a very active odd-jobs worker prior to joining up with them though," he explained. Admittedly, he was omitting that that 'job' involved hunting down Aqua and pulling her back from the brink of corruption.

"And one becomes this strong doing, 'odd-jobs' as you put it?" Pyrrha asked him curiously, if not just a little doubtful.

Dante nodded. "I have always liked taking special jobs. High stakes, high danger. You know the type," Dante explained carefully. He had to choose his words very carefully.

Weiss listened intently until finally she felt that this was the time to fulfill Ruby's request for that. "Dante, your attitude about the job makes me wonder. Why do you want to become a Huntsman?"

"At first I thought I was going to do it for fun," Dante responded honestly, an answer that Weiss was certainly expecting to have to fight him for it like she was pulling teeth. "Maybe the fun of it still motivates me from time to time. But protecting humanity is the reason I do it now. The same thing that my father admired in people. Guess his disposition has kinda rubbed off, y'know?"

Weiss was surprised by the answer. It seemed that he had already figured out what was important about this job. He had a good head on his shoulders despite his general disposition. The two girls contemplated this information for a moment.

"If the world did not need hunters, what would you do then?" Pyrrha asked.

Dante shrugged. "Sandwich shop?" he said, uncertain. The joke seemed to land well as all three of them got a good laugh out of it.

Nearby, Rise found herself lying on the grass and staring up at the sky. She was beginning to miss her friends back home. Her attention was grabbed by Yang who asked, "So, when did you and Dante get together, huh?"

"Yang," Rise said, sighing. "I already told you it wasn't like that. I was just defending his ability to be a fun person while being in a committed relationship."

"Oh, puh-lease," Nora answered excessively. "If that were the case then you would have said it as a statement not a suggestion!" Yang pointed at Nora as to accentuate her own argument with Nora's statement.

"To be honest, I don't really know if he is seeing anyone. We haven't known each other all that long. To say we all just kinda fell into this together would probably be the most accurate," Rise replied honestly. This answer caught both Yang and Nora off guard. They all seemed to be such a good team. To think that they are not at least familiar with each other's personal lives was an unexpected outcome. In fact, their shared room was already being personalized and reorganized to their preferences. So how could she say they had not known each other for long?

"How long have you known each other then?" Yang finally asked. She needed an answer.

Rise suddenly realized, how does one tell time across multiple worlds? Does every world had a time system that matches her own? It was about a week that Dante and Sora had been on her world after the weird events of that day with the giant tower. Saving Aqua included the long trip from Destiny Islands to that wizard tower. And now they had been here for about two weeks. "About a month now, actually," she answered as she finally sat up from her lying position. "Aqua has only been with us over the last couple of weeks." Yang and Nora both sat down to stew on this information. Nora then hopped up dramatically.

"How long have Sora and Dante known each other?" she asked.

"Close to about a month-and-a-half now? Almost two months maybe? They were already starting to work together before I got introduced to them," Rise explained.

"And how did you meet them?" Yang asked genuine curiosity taking over her previous devious reasons. Rise seemed to smile at the memory which caused Yang and Nora to lean in, in interest.

"They helped me and some of my friends solve a situation. I didn't actually end up meeting Dante until he and Sora leapt off a ledge to help me when I was falling. It was in a fight with a large enemy and I was launched off the side of the area. Sora and Dante leapt after me and worked together to see me safely back to the ground. They have even helped me with developing a 'landing strategy' since then." Rise giggled at the thought. "But after that moment, I knew that there was no where else I would rather be than by their sides," Rise described to the two teenage girls who were completely wrapped up in her description. Rise's tone was filled with wonder as she recalled the circumstances and they could not help but understand. "You two mind if I ask you something for a change?" Rise asked.

Yang replied, "Sure, it is only fair."

"You two both seem like your pretty open and forward, like myself. Have either of you ever gotten to the point where you feel like you are trying too hard? Or that you're just acting?" Rise asked them. This was a question she once asked.

"Sometimes," Yang admitted. "But I think that us 'cults of personalities' have to be willing to try too hard or act like nothing's wrong. The people around us depend on us keeping our spirits high even if we are feeling low."

Nora added, "I mean, it isn't like keeping your spirits high is a bad thing, right?"

Rise listened to their responses. They made a lot of sense. If a person like herself did let her spirits get down, it would usually bring down the spirits of those around her. That was practically half her job as an idol when she was in her acting positions. She could think of times that her sadness had affected her friends, especially Yu-senpai.

"So then how did Aqua join up with you guys?" Nora asked.

Rise could not believe that they had not discussed this. How did they not think about a cover story for Aqua? She was also a Faunus while they were on this world. A Faunus! She could spin this. "Aqua found herself in some trouble. It is her story and I am not going to tell it for her, but as a Faunus, she has been going through some rough times," Rise explained quickly. This seemed to be enough for the two of them as a result.

"Hey Rise, if you wouldn't mind, why do you want to become a huntress? You feel like you would be more at home in entertainment, y'know?" Yang asked.

"Well I guess you do have a point there," Rise remarked. "I got into this because I wanted to be able to protect my friends. I used to feel resigned to my fate and that I was just going to be an icon. A supporting player in people's lives who would be inspired by me and then go do things that were actually impactful. Well something changed for me. It was actually part of how we learned that Aqua was in need of help. She had been the one to inspire me to make the change and let myself become the huntress-in-training I am today. To be the person who was not only important to people, but was important to the world. Helping my friends protect the people is all I want to do now."

"Wow," Nora commented.

Yang was really impressed by that answer. She was an interesting person to say the least, and Yang could not wait to see her in action at the Vytal Festival.

Sat upon the concrete planter, Aqua was beginning to become eerily aware of the sharpness of her hearing, getting more bits and pieces of the conversations around her than she normally would have been. Her ears twitched as she adjusted her focus back to the two sitting with her.

"So, do you want to swap horror stories?" Blake asked. "Your dark strange past in exchange for ours?" Ren's eyebrows rose at this comment but he otherwise said nothing to object. The two of them then looked at Aqua.

Aqua nodded slowly. "I suppose my remarks during my fight with Cardin were going to bring attention to me. Maybe it wouldn't be in my best interest to try and hide my past forever. Ok, a story for a story," Aqua agreed out loud. "So, where would you like me to start?"

Blake was relieved by Aqua's willingness to share. However, she was not sure how to approach the subject now. Usually the beginning is a good place to start, but maybe Aqua thinks that it would not be as good a place to start. However, Ren was the one to speak.

"What exactly was the darkness that you referenced before that fight? You said it like you had actually wondered through it rather than it just being something that was happening to you," Ren asked her.

"I see," Aqua mused out loud. "Well it certainly was a journey. But when you live in the depths of the evil that tries to consume you day in and out, it begins to feel like you're actually walking through the problems. I am probably close to being the first one of my current team to pick up a weapon. So when instinct and desperation takes over, you either learn to survive or you perish. My first two friends were not so lucky."

Ren straightened up his posture at the news. "So, it almost is literal," Ren commented. "I can relate. My parents died in the fight with the Grimm."

"I was on the wrong side of history," Blake remarked, trying to be a little subtle about how or why. However, the two people next to her seemed to be sharp enough to get what she was saying without being willing to put in words. She was thankful for that.

The three of them fell into a respectful silence as they all became engrossed in their own thoughts. It seemed that everyone at this school had faced hardship in their lives, in one form or another. Aqua looked over at Blake and her eyes fell on the bow up atop her head. She waited to see it when there was a small twitch. Just as Aqua had suspected.

"Ren, could you excuse us for a moment?" Aqua asked the polite young man.

He answered, "Of course, I should probably go save your teammate, from Nora." Ren stood up and made his way calmly over to his childhood friend who seemed to be getting excited over something.

Blake looked over at Aqua. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

Aqua shook her head but then said, "Maybe. I guess that depends on your answer. You are a faunus. Why do you hide your ears?" Blake was shocked that Aqua saw through her like that. She looked away trying to figure out how to approach this. It seemed that maybe Aqua was not on the same page. Maybe she just did not know due to fighting her own darkness.

"I used to be a member of the White Fang. I wanted to hide my Faunus trait to try and separate myself from my past. That way I could work on fighting the inequality in this world without my history weighing me down," Blake explained. She waited for Aqua to insult her or be outraged by this knowledge but neither ever came.

Aqua had been taught about the White Fang by Ozpin during their two weeks before coming to the school. However, she also knew that both the Faunus and Humans were split on their opinions of the organization. Regardless of her involvement, Blake felt like there was something better that she could be doing to help her people and the world around them.

"Listen," Aqua started. "I was once taught that the only way that you could defeat darkness was with the Light. However, it was once pointed out to me that strong rays of sunlight still cast shadows. It was something that I had to come to terms with and when I did I came to realize something. Darkness doesn't have to be destroyed to be defeated. Sometimes, you just have to keep an existing light from fading. So, good for you in sustaining the light that already exists now. Not many have that kind of strength."

Blake blushed a little, but then replied, "Thank you, Aqua." Blake actually rather liked that explanation. However, there was something else she wanted to know now. It seemed like Aqua would be willing to answer. "Hey, so, I was once asked by a teacher about why I wanted to become a Huntress. So, what about you? Why become a huntress?"

Aqua had this sad look come over her features for a moment. When she finally answered she sounded like she was trapped in a memory. "Have you ever felt like you have been chosen for something. Even if you don't necessarily know that it is the thing that you want? I had potential, I had a gift. Once those things were mine, there was never a question of what I would dedicate my life to do. At first, I think I convinced myself that it was what I wanted. But after the darkness I have faced and the hardships I have weathered, I don't know if I want it anymore. But I also can't say that I could ever go back. So I shoulder my responsibilities. This life, this goal. All of it is my job. And it has to be as simple as that."

Blake could not believe what it was that she heard. A person who has tied herself to the job because she can't let herself go back. It was enough to even crack some of Blake's outer shell. If she were a more open person, Blake may have tried to hug the clearly hurting Aqua. She instead elected to settle with putting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her as best as she could.

Ruby and Jaune watched as Sora had gotten up to take a good look at the statue they were near. His eyes were wide with wonder. Looking at the people built into the statue he seemed to get lost looking at the piece of history.

"Sora?" Jaune asked cautiously.

Sora snapped back to reality and walked back over to the two of them, "Sorry about that. What is it you guys want to know?"

"Well, I was wanting to know how you guys organized yourselves as a team," Ruby told him. Sora seemed to tilt his head at this.

Sora replied, "Organized ourselves? We all just kinda co-exist."

"But surely you have jobs or things that you all focus on?" Jaune asked.

Sora shook his head. "I trust my teammates to know what they need to do and how to do it. We all exchange our strengths for each other's weaknesses. But it doesn't really do any favors to them if I am always telling them how to do their jobs," Sora explained. "Sure, I will occasionally issue orders, but that is just as immediate reaction to the way things have changed. But that is only if they haven't noticed it themselves already."

"So how do you lead them?" Jaune followed up.

"As a member of the team," Sora answered simply.

Ruby was interested in what he was saying because she had also basically figured out that lesson based on her first few weeks as team leader. She tried too hard, but once she stopped trying to be something she wasn't she could then focus on the things that were her. Sure they have the team attacks, but it was up to both the teammates to agree on how to best work together.

Jaune hummed in thought before offering, "So you lead by shotcalling?"

"Basically," Sora agreed.

Ruby decided that she could not wait for the sake of her own curiosity and blurted out, "So why did you decide to become a Huntsman?"

Sora was slightly taken aback by her forwardness and energy, but he quickly recovered as he thought about it. Finally, he answered, "At first, I think it was mostly because I was chosen for it. I went along with it because I believed that there was nothing else I should do. But since then, there was a change. Despite the fact that this job has caused me a lot of pain and… taken people from me, something that I learned from Dante has really stuck with me. People who have the power to protect the things important to them, but choose to do nothing, don't get to complain when we lose those things. I guess that was the moment I realized that there was nothing else I would rather be. Every person I can save is another person who can either find the power within to change the world, or can live another day to inspire someone else to change the world."

Ruby looked at Sora and could have sworn for a moment that she could see a dirty-blond boy next to him with a peaceful smile on his face, aimed at Sora. When she blinked, her vision of Sora was completely unobscured. His answer had stirred something deep inside of her. It felt like inspiration, but it also felt like an admiration. He certainly was a walking vision of her ideal Huntsman. Reflected in his answer was every teacher and parent she has looked up to like the stories of the heroes that she was read as a child. She could only imagine what the answers given by his teammates were like if he was this passionate.

"Wow, that is so cool!" Jaune said, clearly geeking out a little bit. For Jaune, it reminded him of Pyrrha, no hesitation. Just a goal and plans to get to it. Another person, he was ready to look up to in that regard. Conversation between all the groups continued for a while, but soon Teams RWBY and JNPR excused themselves to discuss the things they found out. Leaving Team SWRD to their devices.

"So," Dante commented. "You all just got interrogated too, right?"

"Pretty much," Sora remarked having gone back to stare at the statue.

Aqua stood up and walked over to join him. "That is basically what happened to me, though Ren seemed to be far more polite than an interrogator and Blake wanted to play a game of give and take for my story," she explained.

Rise stretched as she joined the team at the base of the statue, "They were a curious group. Last time I got asked questions like that it was for the press conference when I announced my hiatus from showbiz. Glad to know I am still going to be practiced for it."

"You think any of them figured out our secret?" Sora asked.

Dante shook his head. "Not yet, but they probably suspect. Like Ozpin said, people were going to be suspicious of our sudden arrival, regardless of the reasons given. Though if these are the people who are going to figure it out, you couldn't ask for a better group of people."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the library, Teams RWBY and JNPR had amassed their information and they all fell quiet in retrospection. It seemed that the plan had both been a great success and strangely enough, a colossal failure.

"Is that really what she feels?" Ruby asked Blake. Ruby seemed to hold back tears as she sorted out the words that Aqua had spoken.

Even Weiss, seemed to be saddened by those words, added, "Everyone has been hurt in the pursuit of what was right. But that is a kind of strength that I don't think any of us have right now. Feeling that kind of pain is something that can't be explained except by feeling it. I think she may be the member to watch, even more so than Dante."

"But there was something that Rise said that caught my attention," Pyrrha added. "She is saying that they have known each other barely around two weeks as a team and only two months between Sora and Dante. Yet these 4 almost seem to be closer and better bonded than our teams that have been together for over a semester."

"It does feel almost unreal," Jaune remarked. "But that could be due to Sora, who seems like the type of person who could be the glue that may make just about any team work. Open enough to let his team be themselves but also a strong enough leader to know how to trust them to work with each other."

"Their lives all seem to steeped in death though," Ren commented. "Seems the whole world does not change much in the end. Perhaps we should not be as aggressive as we have been. If they want us to know, they'll let us know more."

"But, I want to know more now!" Nora complained.

"We can learn more by working with them," Yang commented. "It would be a useful way to learn from them as well."

"That," Jaune started, "was surprising coming from you, Yang."

"What?" Yang asked, eyes immediately turning red and her hair igniting.

Jaune squeaked as he began to hide behind Pyrrha. He then replied, "Nothing, nothing at all." Yang's eyes did not leave him.

Weiss however added, "I think he was saying that your idea was really insightful coming from you since you are a very straight forward thinker. Or rather, a rather complicated and nuanced thought from a more simple-minded person." Weiss had a strangely devious smile on her face as she snuck a glance at the ever-paling face of Jaune.

Yang stood up, stepped threatening towards Jaune, and challenged, "You wanna go?"

"No!" Jaune cried out. The rest of the room however wanted to get back to the discussion on hand, the distraction seemed to powerful. They decided that they had finished sharing their thoughts on the new team for now and made their way back to the student dorms.

On their way back, Team RWBY came across a strange sight. A teenager with white hair, slicked back and a sheathed katana in hand standing up on top of the dorm. All four of them could not help but be reminded of Dante as they were practically identical aside from their choice of clothing colors and hairstyles.

"Dante?" Weiss called out, uncertain. The slow, serious turn of the teen's head was all the clarification that any of the four of them would need. This was not Dante.

The blue clad "Dante" turned toward the four of them and reached for his blade. Each of the girls knew they were without weapons, but they all stuck defensive stances anyway. Jumping down from his perch, he drew his blade. In a quick series of swings, he had successfully dashed across their path and through their ranks. It happened so quickly, that the girls had almost no time to react. Weiss was launched backwards, Ruby flipped over the top of the blade from a low swing, Blake barely avoided the swing having pushed off of her clone left behind, and Yang just barely leaned out of the way.

"Interesting," the blue-clad young man commented. "So this is what he sent me to look into. The power of Aura is fascinating. Attacks like that should have normally severed you limb from body. The power of the spirit. On a different topic, where do I find my brother?"

"You need to leave," Yang challenged. "This is a school, so unless you are here as a student or a guest of the school you do not belong here." The man looked over at her and his hand rested back onto the handle of his blade, threateningly. A locker suddenly dropped down from the sky. Yang walked over to it and grabbed the two gauntlets from it and put them on.

The two of them dashed at each other, Yang found herself out sped by her opponent and his swings were strong but not as impactful as they could have been. Ducking under a swing, Yang planted her first punch into his gut. The gauntlet fired and he got launched upwards. The look on his face was one of surprise. He then launched the katana blade out of end of the sheath hitting Yang in the face and interrupting her attempt to follow up her attack. Getting his feet back on the ground, he prepared a renewed charge before he heard something.

"Vergil!"

Turning to the direction of the sound, Vergil found his brother falling from the sky with a sword in hand. It was different from his normal blade, but in Dante's hands that really did not mean much. Dashing backwards Vergil barely made it out of the way of the blade before it embedded itself into the ground.

"Vergil, how do you get here?" Dante demanded. The girls were shocked to see this mirror image of Dante here. Yang looked like she was getting ready to jump forward to attack the now distracted Vergil, but before she could Sora fell from the sky, seemingly out of nowhere, landing in her path with arms outstretched.

Yang looked at him and looked like she was about to protest when Sora interrupted her saying, "No. I am not going to lose another friend to him." Yang was about to push past him anyway when she saw the look in his eyes. The tears gathering in the corners of his eyes as he kept his arms outstretched.

Vergil and Dante stared at each other until, Vergil decided to leave their stand-off. A dark corridor opened behind him and he said, "This isn't over, Dante. We'll settle this, later." He stepped backwards into it and it disappeared.

Rise and Aqua approached from behind.

"Dante, who was that and how did he disappear like that?" Blake asked, the expression could only be described as haunted. Her face had paled and she tried to calm herself by getting Weiss and Ruby back to their feet.

Dante gritted his teeth for a moment before he finally relaxed and sheathed his blade. "His name is Vergil. That, for better or worse, was my twin brother," Dante explained with a bit of frustration. "He's supposed to be dead. I don't know why he isn't."

"Why did it sound like he didn't know what Aura is?" Weiss asked.

Dante hesitated. He looked over at Sora who shrugged. The two of them looked over at Aqua and Rise. Rise began to bounce back and forth nervously. Aqua finally said, "Looks like we don't have any choice."

Sora sighed and then said, "Can we talk about this in private at least?"

"The dorm room," Yang said. "Be there in five minutes, I have to send my locker back and we need to talk as a team real quick."

"We'll be there," Dante said.


	16. A Scattered Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: The thing about writing in Remnant that I have discovered to be a challenge is just how contextually different it is from other worlds. Remnant as world doesn't feel like the type of place to accept the real explanation of world system which is why this probably the most work the people in the group have had to do to actually prove themselves, especially with the limitations on magic. Anyway, please enjoy a look into a more personal look at some of our protagonists.

* * *

Team RWBY waited in their room as they were all trying to get their thoughts in order. What could they possibly need more privacy than the near dead of night? Who was Vergil? Why did he not know what Aura was? What did he do to Sora's friend? All these thoughts revolved around their heads when finally Weiss asked a tough question.

"Everything that we learned from them, what does it all mean?" Weiss asked. "Clearly they were hiding something, but does that mean we can trust anything they told us before?"

Silence was the only answer she received at first before Blake said, "It doesn't mean that it was entirely false. The things Aqua told me affected her too much for them to have been fake. No one is that good of an actor. Whatever darkness she faced, it was real."

"So then what?" Yang asked. "What's fact and what's fiction? And how do we separate the two?"

Ruby struggled with a thought in her mind before she finally said, "I might be able to help with that." The whole room's attention was focused on her. "I guess you guys have noticed that I haven't been sleeping a whole lot recently, huh? Well, that is because I have been having nightmares. I started having them shortly after those falling lights were reported."

"Is that why you've been studying so much and drinking all of my good coffee?" Weiss asked accusingly. Blake hushed her and signaled for Ruby to continue.

"Well," she began again, "Part of my nightmares, have had a spikey haired figure in them. His clothes were different and I never got to see his face, but I am pretty sure that Sora is the one I have been seeing. He was fighting against these yellow eyed creatures and dark cloaked figures. They would kill him and then chase after us. My dream would end just before they got us. But it can't be a coincidence that I am dreaming of him, after four lights fall from the sky, and then four new students come from out of nowhere."

"My little sister is dreaming about a boy! That is so cuuute!" Yang cooed.

"Not now, Yang," Weiss reprimanded. Before she could continue, they heard a knock at the door. Blake walked over to the door and let it swing open. Team SWRD stood outside their door. "Great! You wasted our discussion time."

Dante was the first to enter as he said, "To be fair, I am sure you would likely not get too close to the truth without us explaining some things."

"And why is that?" Yang challenged.

Rise, who had already entered and took a seat at one of the tables, answered, "Because I certainly would not have ever thought of it had it not happened to me. Same with Dante." She had a tired look. But Yang noticed that periodically, Rise's gaze would rest on Sora. To say she was worried, would be the understatement of the year. Which brought Yang back to that heartbroken look she got from Sora when he stopped her from trying to attack Vergil.

"So, what's the deal with you guys?" Ruby asked, legs lightly swinging from her bunk.

Aqua took the lead at the point and she explained, "We are not from Remnant. My home, Sora's home, and their homes do not exist on Remnant. Sora and I are keybearers, tasked with protecting the Light from the Darkness that threatens to consume it."

"Keybearers?" Blake asked.

Dante nodded. "When they have access to them, they are key-shaped weapons that can lock hearts from being accessed by Darkness and the forces that control it," he explained, having heard the explanation before.

"And you two?" Weiss asked.

"To be honest," Rise began uncertain. "We mostly seem to be along for the ride and are here to help."

Dante however added, "I have been referred to as something called a Guardian of Light. Does that mean anything to you, Aqua?"

Aqua gasped at the mentioning of the Guardians. "You have been called a Guardian? I was under the impression that the Guardians were all keyblade wielders. That was half of the reason that Riku and Mickey came after me in the first place," she wondered out loud.

"Does that mean that Rise might be one as well?" Sora asked. "If the keyblade is specifically bringing people with the potential to be keyblade wielders, then would that make her one as well?"

"Guys, can you, uh, _key_ us in on the conversation?" Yang asked.

"Right," Sora said, sheepishly. "So, I recently ended up on Dante's world and that is where-"

"Wait, you keep saying world and worlds?" Weiss asked.

Blake added, "Are you suggesting that there are other worlds out there?"

Aqua nodded. "For just about every light in the sky, there is another world," she explained. This got a shocked or disbelieving look from each of the girls. "It is a difficult thing to comprehend, but you have to believe us."

"Can you prove it?" Weiss asked.

The team fell silent for a moment. Dante let his hand drift to the pocket of his pants. He pulled the picture of Kairi from his pocket. Looking at it, he looked at the environment around her to see if there was anything that could be used. But no, it seemed that this would not be the ticket to convincing them. He slipped the photo back into his pocket.

Rise, however, spoke up. "Tell me, Yang. Why did we get invited to this school?" Rise asked seriously.

"You are really impressive combatants here to participate in the Vytal Festival?" Yang asked in response. Team RWBY was curious as to where this was going.

"Has that ever happened before as far as you know?"

"No," Blake responded.

"And what important event happened two weeks ago? The same amount of time that we have mentioned being allies with Aqua?" Rise asked more intensely.

Ruby blurted out, "The falling lights!"

"Four of them, right?" Rise asked. The girls nodded, not sure they were ready for where this was going. Rise had this near desperate look on her face. "Have you ever heard of the Redgrave, Highwind, River, or Wayfinder families before we showed up here after we fell out of the sky?"

"Not in Atlas," Weiss confirmed.

"Not on Patch either," Yang added.

Blake shook her head.

"So what is more likely, that the answer to every question I just asked you is a coincidence and we are just making up the existence of other worlds, or that we are admitting to having been the lights falling out of the sky after coming here from another world?" Rise asked almost desperately hoping that the four of them would put the pieces in place.

Ruby after a moment of silence asked, "Who are the figures in the dark coats?" This reference caught Sora's attention as he looked at her.

"How do you know about the Organization?" he asked.

"Oh, you are all serious," Weiss remark reach back behind herself to make sure she was close enough to a bed to sit down. "This cannot be real, this cannot be happening. Why does everything crazy have to happen during the time I am going to school?"

As Weiss continued to mumble about the unbelievability of the circumstances of life that she had found herself in, Yang then asked, "So Rise, when you said Sora and Dante had already been working together before you met them, that was on a different world?"

Rise nodded and Dante added, "My world to be specific. Which was the last time we fought my brother."

This made Yang remember the look on Sora's face when he stopped her from trying to attack Vergil. "What happened?" Yang asked Sora.

Sora walked over to the window and looked outside as he took a deep breath. "Vergil attacked us during a job to save a friend of ours, Kat. Well, Dante's nephew Nero had been trying to fight Vergil, but it was not going well. Kairi went to help Nero while Riku went to attack the enemy base and I helped Dante fight the enemy leader. Just distract him long enough until he could be hurt. Kairi, trying to defend Nero from Vergil, was- was…" Sora struggled to explain.

Dante stepped in and said, "Kairi tried to attack Vergil when his back was turned. Vergil however, knew she was approaching. Stabbing under his arm, she never saw the counter attack coming." Dante retrieved the picture from his pocket and showed it to the girls. The picture lingered by Ruby who seemed particularly interested in its contents. She was about the same age as all of them, her life had been extinguished. Sora had to watch his friend die. "She was something special, but Vergil doesn't care about ending lives. If you ever come across him, please let us know."

"We will," Ruby said as her gaze wandered over to Sora.

"So Aqua, are you normally a faunus when you are not on Remnant?" Blake asked.

Aqua shook her head. "It was a bit of a surprise to have these ears to be honest. My darkness was not related to my life as a Faunus, but rather my life as a keybearer. It is what I was taught to do and it the only skill I really have. Also, my darkness was very literal. I was stuck in the Realm of Darkness for over 10 years."

"But, you're so young!" Yang exclaimed getting a closer look at her. "How did you do it?"

"Time doesn't really move in the Realm of Darkness," Aqua explained as Yang began prodding at varying parts of her face, like she was looking for imperfections. "To you it may seem like a blessing, but I still have nightmares about my time there. Every step could have been days, or years. I never knew for certain."

Yang stopped prodding at Aqua and replied, "Well you are out now, right?" Yang gave her a big smile and got a small one in return. "So, why are you guys here then? It sounds like your job is pretty important so what brought you to Remnant?"

"We are here for the reason we go anywhere," Dante answered. "Somewhere in your world is something called the Keyhole. It leads to the heart of your world. We need to seal the keyhole to keep the darkness from consuming everything. Additionally, the Organization is likely somewhere around here as well."

The four girls were quiet after listening to this explanation. "So how do we deal with this?" Ruby asked. "How can we help?"

"Well, for starters," Rise said rolling on her feet. "Any information you guys may have on important locations could help. Otherwise, keeping an eye out for the Organization or Vergil. And I think it goes without saying, but we need to keep our identities here a secret."

Blake nodded and immediately replied, "Of course. It isn't like you haven't already done the same for me. And as soon as we learn anything we will let you all know. Speaking of which, we will need your scroll numbers so we can contact you." Numbers were exchanged and Team SWRD made their way out of the room.

Team RWBY sat in silence as they all began processing what they learned just then. Finally, Weiss broke the silence. "Ok, so can we review everything that is going on here?" she asked.

"So, we have four world travelers, here to save the world from people who are also from off of the world," Yang started.

"Additionally, we have a criminal behind bars and we have no idea why the White Fang is working with a human," Blake added.

Ruby rounded it off by saying, "Finally, we have the Vytal Festival coming up and a mysterious masked lady breaking into buildings and no way to know who she was or what she wanted. So a lot of problems and no solutions."

"Maybe, since they are already here on a similar business, we can get them involved. With the four of them, we can cover more ground and try to be more attentive to these issues while the Festival is on," Yang explained. "They could be our "Highwind" of change, eh?"

Conversation ended there.

* * *

After nearly a week, Team SWRD was getting restless. Classes were easy in content, if not difficult to concentrate. Aqua spent a lot of extra time in the library studying. Rise and Dante spent their free time practicing. Sora meanwhile seemed to spend his time in town getting familiar with the local businesses and places of interest. This was all interspersed with time spent with Team RWBY and Team JNPR as they got ready for the festival. This routine went on until the two days before the festival which were free days for the participants to prepare for the festival in anyway that they felt to be satisfactory.

Teams RWBY, JNPR, and SWRD found themselves in the cafeteria.

"I swear, I thought I had rambling teachers in the past," Rise complained. "Professor Port was interesting the first couple of times but he just does not stop."

"I enjoyed the class, forgot how much I enjoy forbidden sleep," Dante remarked.

Nora looked at him with large eyes and asked, "How do you get away with it?"

Ren simply added, "No. Nora is hard enough to keep awake in class, she doesn't need to know the secret to doing it without getting caught." This got a good laugh out of all the teams, even Nora.

"Aqua? You seem distracted," Blake commented. Aqua had been staring out the window most of the meal. As Blake followed her gaze, she saw what Aqua was staring at. "Oh! Guys. it looks like the Amity Coliseum has arrived."

Nora and Ruby were both immediately by the window looking up at the arena. Sora looked over at Aqua and saw that she was not really looking anymore but rather she was remembering something. He had seen that look on her face a lot since he met her again. The longer she had been in the Realm of Light, the more she seemed to be willing to let herself remember things. Sora got up and walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Aqua looked over at him as she seemed to remember herself.

"You ok?" he asked.

Aqua nodded meekly and replied, "I was just remembering the last time I had fought in an arena. It was a place called the Olympus Coliseum. There was a boy there named Zack who had been wanting to become champion. That was before he was defeated by Terra, then he just wanted to be heroes like Terra, Ventus and me. He also once asked for-" She suddenly stopped mid-sentence and blushed.

"I participated in a few tournaments at the Olympus Coliseum a while back," Sora commented. "I don't remember anyone by the name of Zack when I was there. I did meet someone named Cloud who was looking for his light. I don't know if he ever really found it or just learned to live without it. The last time I saw him, he was fighting back against his own darkness. I am sure wherever this Zack guy ended up, he has become a hero." Sora gave Aqua an infectious smile. She could not help but smile back at him. Aqua knew that she needed to stave off the dark emotions that threatened to bubble over on occasion. She saw them in Sora sometimes. So if he was going to hold his down then so would she, Aqua had resolved. Rise heard this conversation and made a note.

"So, are you guys looking forward to fighting in the tournament?" Yang asked Dante.

Dante nodded. "Well some of us, more than others. I always love finding opportunities to show off," he remarked competitively.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me," Jaune commented idly as his mood seemed to droop further with news that the Festival was just around the corner. "Can we not talk about the festival?"

"But Jaune, you have improved so much, don't you want to get to prove to the school your newfound skill with the blade?" Pyrrha encouraged him. He just groaned in response. Pyrrha elected to ignore that response as she then turned back to Ruby. "How are you all feeling about this tournament?"

"Feeling good!" Ruby said confidently. "Though I do have something I want to do before the festival starts. I'm taking care of it tomorrow."

"Preparation and ritual is good for easing the mind during the calm before the storm," Ren commented sagely. The teams all nodded or made noises of agreement.

"So, Dante, would you like to practice sparring with me before the festival?" Weiss asked. This just got a big smirk from Dante.

"Oh?" he asked. "Hoping to get a leg up on the competition by sparring with a potential threat to your victory, huh?"

Weiss seemed to pout for a moment before she recovered and said, "Please, I just wanted to make sure that you weren't rusty by the time you actually got there." The look from everybody at the table seemed to communicate the same thought. "Ok, fine! Yes, I was hoping to get you to tip your hand before the start of the festival!"

"Honesty will get you far in life, Weiss. Let's see if you can force me to reveal anything new," Dante challenged as he stood up from the table. Weiss got up and the two of them proceeded to leave.

Pyrrha stood up and said, "I believe I would like to see this."

"Oh, I am not missing this," Yang called out.

Rise added, "But Dante, I thought I was going to be the only one you sparred with!" She chased after the group.

"This could prove very educational," Ren commented idly as he brought up the rear pulling Nora along with him.

Sora was surprised to see that Ruby had made no move to leave. "Aren't you interested in seeing Weiss fight Dante?" Sora asked. She shook her head.

"Well yeah, but I have to do some packing for a quick trip out of Vale," she replied.

"Where are you going?" Aqua asked.

Ruby smiled and answered, "I am heading home for a quick visit with my parents. They're on Patch so it a short trip but the fastest way is by airship. Those trips are only scheduled to happen a few times a day, though. So I have to head out tonight to get back in time for bed tomorrow and be all rested and ready for the festival."

"And you Blake?" Aqua asked.

Blake shrugged and said, "I generally like to spend my time relaxing with a good book or with civil conversation. I have seen my fair share of action in life, so the down time is really needed."

"I can relate to that," Aqua said with an exhausted look on her face.

"Want to go find a quiet corner to read and talk in?" Blake asked. Aqua nodded and the two of them left the cafeteria heading towards the library.

Jaune after a few moments simply said, "Oh heck, I should go watch that fight. Might learn something." He left the area to go follow his team. Sora and Ruby found themselves alone in the cafeteria.

"Sora, can I ask you something about your other work?" Ruby asked. Sora nodded. "These guys, the Organization, how likely are they to try and interrupt the festival? Hurt the innocent people?"

"If they know about the Grimm? Almost definitely," Sora commented bitterly. "But I am going to try to run interference on them for as much as I can once they make themselves known." He said to her confidently. It got a small look of relief from Ruby as they both got ready to leave.

"Hey," Ruby started. "Can you come with me to Patch? There is something I want you to see there," Ruby suggested. Sora nodded. She started to head back to the dorm and Sora followed waiting for her to pack. While he stood out in the hall, he saw a familiar brutish lad walking down the hall. Sora grabbed the eye wrap from his pocket and placed it over his eyes with a sigh. Sora could tell that this was about to go the way of combat and his eye wrap began powering up and letting him see the world outside.

As Cardin passed he mumbled, "Faunus loving-." The comment, Sora knew, was aimed at him and his being on a team with Aqua.

"Cardin," Sora commented. Cardin stopped and looked back at him. "What's your problem with the Faunus?"

"What do you care?"

Sora stepped away from the wall. "I care because it puts you at odds with me. It puts you at odds with Dante. It puts you at odds with Rise. We have a faunus as a teammate, so your attitude is now my problem. Why do you hate them?"

"Why wouldn't I? They are secondary citizens," Cardin responded as he turned to face Sora. The tension in the air was palpable. "At best they let themselves be victims and at worst they are dangerous criminals."

"And you say that completely seriously?" Sora asked. "It sounds like to me you are looking for shells at the beach, get mad when you find a rock and use that as your basis of value."

"What?"

"It is a comparison Cardin. You are looking for value, which you believe to be the 'quality of person'. You define value as 'shells' or 'humans', and get mad when you find 'rocks' or 'faunus.' Clear now?" Sora explained. This seemed to get Cardin steamed up as he approached Sora and looked down on him.

"Is this going anywhere, Shrimp?" Cardin asked through gritted teeth.

Sora replied in a deadpanned tone, "You got anything between your ears, Cardin? You tell me if this is going anywhere. But if this is going to be a problem, we can go and settle this in the practice arena." The two of them stood against each other firmly. Then Cardin finally turned away.

"Whatever," he commented. "This isn't worth my time."

"Stay away from my teammate, Cardin. You may not be able to hear your conscience, but its saying that you are wrong side. As long as you stay on that side, every step you take is a step closer to conflict," Sora warned him. His tone was even and light, but his body language was aggressive. Cardin kept walking. Sora could not believe that he had been that standoffish with Cardin, He would not have done that even just a few months ago.

After a few moments, Ruby walked out of her room with a duffel packed. She remarked, "That was really cool." Sora looked over at her as he removed the wrap from his eyes. "Not very many people would stand strong in the face of adversity on behalf of the Faunus. Cardin has been a big problem for the Faunus in school. Having someone actively standing up to him is actually kinda new." Sora was surprised by the remark. But he was still happy at her comments and the look on her face was one of appreciation as well as adoration.

The two of them headed out towards the ship port. They discussed this and that. As they waited for the boat that would take them out to Patch, Sora looked over at Ruby and finally asked, "Hey Ruby, why take me to Patch?"

Ruby scratched the back of her head. "I have been having these strange dreams lately. At first they were about you and your story. I watched you be cast off your island. Traveling with various people like the dog, Goofy, and the duck, Donald. Chasing after Riku and trying to save Kairi. I saw it all. Your falls into darkness, chasing after Organization XIII. I know so much about you, and I figured that it was only fair got you got to know me," she explained.

"So, you have had more than just the most recent recurring nightmare?" Sora asked. She nodded. "Ok, then why don't you teach me about you?" The two of them got on the ship to head off to Patch.

* * *

For the life of her, Weiss could not get Dante to reveal anything new about his fighting style or his weapon. They had both landed the occasional shot against each other but Dante seemed to pointedly refuse to reveal anything new, even if it came at the detriment of his aura levels. The teammates who followed were busy cheering on their combatant.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha was busy at work trying to learn anything new she could from watching this fight. She could tell that Dante was holding back but there was something interesting in this fight. He has fully adjusted to fighting Weiss the way he thinks he needs to in order to best suit his style. A giant blade versus a rapier could be hard to keep up with. Especially, when that rapier was in the hands of a Schnee. Pyrrha had heard of Winter Schnee, a specialist in the Atlas Army, presumably someone she would have served under had she decided to go to that school. If Weiss was learning from Winter, it was likely that most anyone else would be hard pressed to keep up with her.

Dante however was not just anyone else. He also was not your traditional fighter. Fully aware of the disadvantage, he moved his body around a lot to avoid potential damage. It reminded her a lot of Yang's brawling style of combat. However, the same thing that made him go an entire fight with Pyrrha without taking a hit was the same reason that Weiss could punish his fighting style. Dante could use the size of his weapon to keep Pyrrha on the back foot. However, a fighter with a rapier will out speed that blade and force the range of the fight much closer than is comfortable.

"If you keep holding back, you will lose this fight," Weiss commented.

Dante shrugged and replied, "I thought this was just for sparring, Weiss."

"What do you mean?" Weiss commented.

"Combat in a spar is not designed for going all out," Dante replied. "You are tipping all your cards to me and you have learned nothing. Had you just asked me for an all out fight, maybe you would learn more about my fighting style."

"Then try some Freezerburn!" Yang called out falling through the air with her gauntlets on. Dante moved to block the attack just a moment too late as Yang's fist collided with the pommel of his blade and launched it from his hand. Dante jumped back as Weiss immediately followed up. Dante put his hands in a defensive stance as the two members of Team RWBY stood opposite of him. This fight suddenly got a whole lot more interesting.

Yang was the first to approach. Dante swayed his torso backwards to dodge her first swing and did a quick countering jab to her side. He then heard the firing mechanism of her gauntlet just a second before her elbow slammed him in the face. Staggering backwards, he lashed his foot out into her hip making her leg buckle. Weiss leapt over the top of Yang and thrust her blade forward. Dante threw himself backwards onto his back as the rapier passed through the area he had been standing not a moment before. Another kick forward, knocked Weiss off balance and with her blade temporarily made harmless, Dante performed a kip-up and in doing so got to punch Weiss with a bare fist. Yang then approached him with a series of alternating fast and strong punches that Dante swept away or dodged trying to keep an eye on Weiss's next set up.

Seeing that she was prepared to re-engage, Dante knew that Weiss would find a way to capitalize on his fight with Yang. With a fast duck and an agile spin, Dante swept Yang off her feet with his leg and with an immediate follow-up spin, launched his leg into her core sending her sliding back across the arena. Weiss's new dash was far too fast to try to dodge, so Dante elected to take a chance on deflecting what he hoped would be a flat side of her blade. Lifting his left forearm, he let the blade thrust over his shoulder as he pushed his position forward planting a quick series of jabs into her side and a powerful right strike that would launch her back. Before he could move onto the next move, Yang was on his back and planting blows into the back of his head. He flipped over and landed on her which loosened her grip just enough for him to pry her arm off his him and get out of the grapple. When he realized that Weiss was upon him, his body seemed to unnaturally got flying to the right as if pulled along by some unseen force.

Pyrrha recognized it from her fight with him. He had used it to dodge what should have been a perfect counter to his attack during their fight. It was some form of fast dodge that had a component in his willing to work it whatever way he wanted. It had Semblance written all over it as far as she was concerned.

Dante's dodge brought him to the position of his blade. He leaned against the wall with a small huff as he grabbed the sword. "Well, that was fun. Weiss, Yang, thanks for the spar. I feel all warmed up for the festival," he said to them with a crooked grin. He then began to walk off the battlefield and towards the locker room. The two of them could not believe what they had just witnessed. Even the small audience was not entirely sure how things got as interesting as it did, but taking on two very promising contenders from the first years at once, did not go unnoticed.

Weiss and Yang looked at each other, Weiss was winded after her fight and Yang was more annoyed than anything else. "What is with that guy?" Yang asked.

Weiss shook her head, "I can't wrap my head around him or his motivation. He clearly enjoys to fight, but he won't fight all out."

Rise up in the audience commented, "I think then you might not be seeing the whole picture if that is all you can figure out about him." Weiss and Yang both turned to her. "Dante does enjoy to fight. But he is more than just some kind of battle hungry maniac. Dante doesn't fight without reason. Every fight means something to him. It could be as simple as testing his limits, or trying to get his opponent to learn something. But there is always a motivation behind the fights he participates in."

"So what was his motivation in this fight?" Yang asked.

Rise tilted her head. "Isn't it obvious? He sorta spelt it out before you got involved, Yang. He wants Weiss to say what she means. If you can't ask people for the things that you want, then you are never going to get the things you need when the time comes. It may feel like he's yanking your chain, but if that is what it takes, he'll keep doing it," Rise explained. This explanation earned her a strange look from both of them.

"Are you sure you are not seeing him?" Yang asked.

Rise sighed. "I am sure, Yang. Also, I take it to heart when people want me to learn about them. It is something I learned from a dear friend of mine," Rise explained. With her piece said, Rise headed out of the arena.

* * *

Aqua and Blake found a quiet corner on the upper floor of the library. Much like they had discussed, the two of them read quietly. However, Aqua had noticed a certain amount of hesitance from Blake like she was wanting to talk about something. If she was this nervous about it, Aqua would not rush Blake into the interaction. After maybe ten minutes of pensive waiting, Blake finally opened up.

"Aqua, I need to ask you something. If you wouldn't mind, of course," Blake finally said out loud.

"What do you need, Blake?"

Blake seemed to shift in her seat and then finally asked, "Before, you mentioned friends of yours. Knowing what I know now about you and your past, what did you mean about your friends not being so lucky as you, when dealing with the darkness?"

Aqua had not been expecting the question and she felt a pang within her heart at the thought of her two closest friends. Terra and Ventas had been her dearest friends for as long as the three of them had been training at the Land of Departure. Pulling herself out of her memories, Aqua focused back on the question.

"My friends, their names are Terra and Ventas. Terra tried to do battle against the man who is currently now the enemy of Sora. When Terra lost, his heart has been floating around the Realm of Darkness, I saw it once. Ventas's heart was damaged in a battle with his own darkness. And he fell into a deep slumber. One that I was supposed to wake him up from. But I currently have no way to get to him," Aqua explained. "I don't know what is happening to either of them now."

Blake nodded as she absorbed that information and tried to process what it all meant. "What do you mean by their hearts? It sounds like you mean something other than the physical part of their bodies," she explained.

Aqua paused for a moment, eyes wide in realization. That was something that she had never really thought about before. "I-I uh… yes. The heart is both the physical object, but it also is the manifestation of everything that we as people are. When darkness consumes it, it isn't actually death. It just makes the person disappear," Aqua explained, regaining her composure.

Blake's bow twitched in response to this information. She then had another idea, "Aqua? Is it possible for a heart to be corrupted by Darkness, but not be consumed?"

"Yes," Aqua answered sadly. "The darkness does not simply consume by its own nature. If a light source is strong enough, it can prevent being snuffed out by the darkness. Holding onto one's heart in the darkness is not impossible. The darkness usually comes with massive increases of power, and a complete shift of the disposition of the host."

Blake seemed to be connecting dots. "Is it possible to identify if it has happened to someone?" Blake asked. Aqua nodded. "I think a former partner of mine from my… old days in the White Fang could have been changed like this. How else could you recognize it outside of the changes in their personality."

"There can be physical changes," Aqua commented. "But they are usually only visible in cases where the person has accepted the darkness entirely into themselves." Blake nodded at this again. Aqua continued, "Blake, if I could ask, are you hoping that this explanation could be used for a happy ending? If you are, I have to tell you that it may not end up the way you think it will." Blake looked over at Aqua with a question clear on her expression. "People who are touched by the darkness, have to want to change back. But even when they do... we are permanently changed. Haunted at best, tortured at worst. Guard our emotions and-" Aqua's voice seemed to cut off as she was just staring at her own hands. After a couple of moments, she stood up and said, "I'm sorry, I need to go."

Blake watched as Aqua seemed to escape from the room, nearly knocking someone over as she went. Blake had heard the slip. Aqua was being affected in the ways she was describing. But, Blake had long since come to the conclusion that Adam's change was something he wanted. Even if Darkness was involved, he had no desire to go back. Blake's gaze finally moved back to the exit that Aqua had escaped through.

She asked under her breath, "Aqua, what happened to you?"


	17. First Round, Vytal Importance

" _You abandoned me." "Left me in the shadow prison for more than a decade." "Endless wandering." "Waited forever for help to arrive." "No one ever came." "I lost my keyblade." "You should have known I was stranded."_ "Aqua!" " _Do you have any idea how lonely it is here?" "Frightening it is to have no one?" "Is there any point in continuing this fight?" "No one can save you. And no one who wants to."_ "Aqua!" " _Just let go of everything and fade into the darkness." "Your bonds of friendship only tie you down." "You'll never see the realm of light again."_

"Aqua!"

" _Only your heart is hollow enough to be a demon's."_

"Aqua!"

Aqua's eyes flew open as she felt the moisture around her eyes, clearly she had been crying in her sleep. Her chest was heaving as if she were finally remembering to breathe for the first time in forever. In the darkness of the room, she could make out the white hair and piercing blue eyes of Dante who had his hands on her shoulders. His was the voice that called her out of her nightmare. She threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around him, hanging on to him like he was a life saver in a sea of darkness threatening to pull her down below, into the depths of despair. As the tears continued, Dante slowly returned the hug.

"Hey, are you alright? You were having nightmares again. You almost woke up Rise," he said to her softly. Dante was not really sure what else to do to try and comfort her, so he just let her cry into his shirt. With his coat hung up, he was just in his long sleeved shirt so it was absorbent and not reeking of leather.

Aqua started to get her breath under control as she finally answered, "Thank you, but why are you still awake?" Her purple and blue eyes met his as they finally separated.

"I don't sleep much. Shocking considering my laid-back attitude, I bet," Dante replied with a simple shrug. He turned toward the center of the room, sitting on the side of her bed. "Was it about the Realm of Darkness?"

"Yes. I can't make it stop. Every time I close my eyes, I am right back in there and it feels like I am drowning in the darkness all over again," Aqua explained, feeling the tightness in her chest return as her emotions flared. She walked over to the window and looked over the school grounds, leaned over the bookshelf her hands planted on it to ground herself in the fact that she is in fact in the Realm of Light. The stillness of the night reminded her of the empty loneliness of the last 10 years. "I don't know how to make it stop," she added sadly.

Dante did not move from his spot while he listened to her. He was never much for comforting others. Sure in the past he had been able to help people like Trish or Lucia, but their problems were things that directly related to their demonic heritage, or in other words a shared problem with himself. However, things were different with Aqua. She was completely human and dealing with something that even Dante could not really relate to, based on what he knew. After a moment, he stood up and joined her at the window.

"Wanna take a walk?" Dante asked. "Clear your head, maybe talk about some of the things you have been seeing? I can't pretend to understand, but I am willing to listen." Aqua looked over at him with a curious look. Dante just shrugged and said, "Just trying to be a good friend, you do what you want."

"I-" she started. "I am not ready to talk about it yet." Dante nodded and patted her shoulder comfortingly. He walked over to his bed and sat down, leaning against the wall. Aqua looked back out the window and then after a moment she turned to him and asked, "Could I sit with you? I don't know if I am going to be able to sleep again tonight." Dante patted the spot next to him. Aqua climbed up next to him and the two of them sat quietly for a moment. "Why aren't you asleep?" she asked after a while.

Dante sighed. "I am also stuck somewhere in my mind. Knowing my crazy brother is out there, especially after what happened with Kairi. I keep reliving that moment," Dante replied. "I failed that day. I failed Sora, I failed Riku, but worst of all, I failed her. Having a hard time moving on from it."

"You're human, Dante," Aqua replied. "More human than you know." She leaned her head against his shoulder as if to comfort him. The silence was deafening as Dante was sure that she had fallen asleep like this. However, the silence was broken when Aqua asked, "Dante? Do you think someone can become a demon while still being purely human?"

Dante was not sure he liked where this question was coming from. However, he knew the answer to this question. "A friend of mine, her name is Lady, once realized that there are humans capable of evil as bad or worse than any demon, but that there were also kind and compassionate demons," Dante answered. Her hesitance and silence worried him. What could possibly be going through her mind?

"Could I be-?"

"No," Dante interrupted her almost immediately. He looked down at what seemed to be her ever-shrinking form as she pulled her legs up and curled up against him. "Devil's never cry, Aqua. Compassion, empathy, the ability to love, these are the things that demon's lack. I have already seen all three of these things in you," Dante told her adamantly. He put his arm around her and pulled her in closely. "Even if you were a demon, the fact that you have these emotions makes you more human than most. Don't you forget that, Aqua. Don't ever forget that." Her breath calmed soon after and as leaned she against him, the heat that radiated off of him soothed her. She fell asleep once more. "Looks like I am stuck here for the night."

* * *

Sora was still not used to the broken moon on Remnant and he spent a lot of time looking at it. Still awake in a little room in Patch, Sora stared at the moon. His attentioned was pulled away by the sound of knocking.

"Come in," Sora answered. Opening the door was the tall blonde man that Sora had been introduced to hours before. His name was Taiyang Xiao Long and he was the father of both Ruby and Yang. "Oh, hey Taiyang."

"Call me Tai, Sora. Anyway, I noticed you were still awake and uh, was wondering if I could ask you a couple questions now that we have a moment," Tai started, sitting down. Sora nodded and took a more reasonable sitting position. "So, Ruby had a lot to say about you. Uh, look, Ruby has never really brought friends home, least of all a boy. So while I am certainly grateful that you have taken such an interest in her, I think it is reasonable to have questions, right? So, Ruby says you are a guest at Beacon?"

"Yeah," Sora replied. "Team SWRD is a guest of the Headmaster, Professor Ozpin."

"Really?" Tai asked with a slight narrowing of his eyes. "And how do you know Ozpin?"

Sora thought for a moment before he answered, "Ozpin found our Team because we had been operating independently prior to our invitation. We are only really scheduled to be there through the Festival."

Tai seemed to relax a bit. "Oh," he commented. "Does Ruby know that you are only there temporarily?"

"The whole school knew we were just guests before we even got there," Sora replied. "Teenagers know how to spread the word the second they get their hands on it."

Tai nodded. "That seems far too true. Well, as long as she knows. She mentioned that you had a Faunus for a teammate, just like her. She also mentioned that you defended her and faunus in general from a local attitude problem. Can I ask you why?" Tai asked him.

"Why wouldn't I?" Sora replied without hesitation.

Taiyang nodded and simply replied, "Point taken. Well, uh, in that case I guess the last thing I have to ask is do you have any intentions?" Sora tilted his head. "For Ruby?" Tilted his head in the other direction. "Your future with her?"

"Are you asking…" Sora started when suddenly the door was flung open and a near frenzied Ruby ran into the room in black pajamas.

"DAD! Stop! Stop! Out! Out! Out!" She dashed across the room in an explosion of color and petals. Tai found himself being pushed out of the door in a spiral of chaos. After the door was slammed shut, Sora and Ruby were left alone. She turned, back pressed to the door and said, "I am so sorry! He has just been so eager for me to go to bed. I knew he was going to try to ambush you like this."

"Was he trying to ask if I was-" Sora started.

"Nope!" Ruby suddenly said. "Didn't happen, no sense in dwelling on it. No." Sora just looked back out the window. Ruby walked over and looked out the window with him. "You aren't use to having a broken a moon."

"This is the first time for a broken moon. Ranks up there with the heart shaped moon," Sora commented staring at it.

"Heart shaped? Oh right, Kingdom Hearts," Ruby remembered. Sora nodded. "I still feel bad that I know so much more about you than you do about me."

"Well, that was what my being on this trip was about, right?" Sora said with a smile. He turned to her and said, "Your dad mentioned that you have never really had friends over before. Why is that?"

"Oh, that," Ruby commented. "My dad is a teacher at Signal, which is the combat school here on Patch. I am not bitter or anything, but students don't usually like going over to the house of a teacher. I had friends, just not as close of friends as I would have liked. Not like with my teammates now."

"I see," Sora replied. "So your Dad is a huntsman?"

"He isn't active much. Though, I know he has been talking about going on missions again soon. He was inactive pretty much all of my life and Yang's life. He's the only parent she and I have left," Ruby replied. Her tone was both sad but adoring. Even if her father sometimes embarrassed her, Sora could tell that she loved him dearly.

"Ruby," Sora said with the realization. "Before we left, you told me that we were going to see your parents. But just now you said that Tai is the only one you have left."

Ruby nodded and said, "Tomorrow morning, it'll make more sense then." Sora nodded. "Sora, my dreams of your adventures ended before you ever met Dante, Rise, or Aqua. What are their worlds like?"

Sora described his time on Dante's world and how it was somewhat dirty. He described the towering buildings and the neon signs. All of the interesting things that happened with Dante's world being overwritten by another. He then talked about the little town of Inaba being covered by the red fog. The giant tower and creatures known as Personas. Finally, he admitted that finding Aqua did not happen on her world but rather in the Realm of Darkness. The fight with her trying to release the hold that Darkness had upon her. By the time he was done, Ruby had a kind of sleepy look on her face but she was hooked upon his every word of his exploits.

"Wow, that is incredible," she said sleepily.

Sora smiled and just said, "Go get some sleep Ruby. You have something to show me in the morning." He walked her back to her room and then left back to his own. He sat down on the bed and stared at the moon for a while longer before he finally was lulled off to sleep.

The following morning, Sora and Tai followed Ruby across the island. They all arrived at the cliff after a few minutes of walking. Sora looked past her to see what appeared to be some kind of memorial. He looked at the name on the memorial and he stopped in his tracks.

_Summer Rose_

Ruby continued to walk further and stopped in front of the memorial. Tai stopped next to Sora. Sora looked to him and asked, "What happened?"

Tai had a sad look on his face and said, "She went out on a mission, and she never came back. Summer was an amazing woman. A dedicated mother to both her own daughter and the daughter of a close friend. However, she was driven and focused on being the best huntress she could be. In that way, I can see so much of her in Ruby. However, that dedication also made her take on some of the most dangerous missions available to keep others from being forced into them. Ruby was really young, she only has some memories of her mother. But I think her mother's death has affected her far more than she has let on to even me or her sister. When ever she feels the need to talk or share important things with someone, it is always with her mother, here at the memorial."

Sora looked over at Ruby who finally began to speak. He and Tai were just close enough that they could hear her speak.

"Hey, mom. Sorry I haven't come by in a while. Things have been... well, things have been, pretty busy. Oh, Dad's here, too! He's, uh, you know... Dad. He's still teaching at Signal. But he told me that he's going to be on some mission soon. I think he misses adventuring with you. I miss you too." Ruby paused briefly as if not sure how to continue. "Haven't gotten kicked out of Beacon yet! So that's cool. I think being on a team with Yang helps. I keep her in line... That was a joke. She's actually a really great fighter! You can tell she's learned a lot from Dad! Oh, so are Weiss and Blake. Oh! They're my teammates! Together, we form Team RWBY! And yes, before you ask, that does cause a lot of confusion. Anyways, I made a bunch of new friends, and then I met some... let's just say, uh, odd teachers. I've met someone, a boy I think needs help, and I want to help him. Oh! We've also stopped some bad guys, too! I guess it's like they say: "like mother, like daughter"! I still wonder why Ozpin let me into the school early. But uh, I guess he'll tell me one day. You know how he is. It's funny, the more I get to know him, the more he's starting to sound like Uncle Qrow. I gotta go! Dad's dropping me off at Beacon for the tournament match before he goes on his next mission. Wish me luck!" Ruby turned away from the whitestone memorial. But she paused and looked back, "It was good to talk."

Sora was quiet for the trip back towards the house and the subsequent trip to the dock. He had a lot to think about.

* * *

In the aftermath of Team RWBY's fight and victory, Team SWRD was preparing themselves inside the Amity Coliseum. The team was in various states of restfulness and thoughtfulness. Rise was seemingly the only one fully rested and energized.

"Well guys, looks like this out first time all fighting as a Team!" She cheered. Aqua gave her a half-hearted smile. Dante practiced swinging his blade as he warmed up. Sora flipped his chain blade into a few different forms before he let it retreat back into his sleeves. Rise looked at them all and then said, "Is everyone ok?"

"We're fine, Rise," Aqua said as she stood up with her blade. "Just preparing for the fight in our own ways."

Dante placed the blade back on his back. "So we're going against Team CRDL? Good," Dante said with a couple of practice swings of his fist. "I have been meaning to teach that leader of theirs a lesson."

"From what Ruby mentioned after they got back, I think he may be schooled by Sora," Rise remarked. "Pretty cool, Sora." Rise winked at him. Sora blushed and looked away. "She is… in to you!" Rise teased him. Sora was trying to ignore her as he turned several shades of red.

"Rise, let him be," Aqua said with a gentle smile. "He has a fight to focus on coming up." Sora thanked her silently in his head as the team made their way over to the access point to main arena. The energy out in the arena was palpable. Their performance had been hyped from what Dante had been saying over the course of the past week.

"I don't think you were kidding when you said our participation was being looked forward to," Sora commented as he put on his eye wrap.

Dante gave him a look and said, "What you thought I made up the advertisements that were specifically talking about Team SWRD being invited as non-school combatants to participate in this year's Vytal Festival? Well one, you give me too much credit. Two, why would I make that up if I thought there was the slightest chance it might affect our team's performance?"

"Please welcome to the arena, Team SWRD and Team CRDL for round one of the Vytal Festival Tournament!" The jovial voice of Professor Port announced. "If this is your first time watching, allow us to break down the rules."

The next man to speak was Bartholomew Oobleck who explained, "The tournament is divided into three distinctive rounds; teams, doubles, and singles. Age and school year are irrelevant! In this tournament, your only attribute being tested... is _skill_."

"Correct! The winners of this battle will elect two of their members to represent them in the doubles round, followed by the winners of that round choosing one member to advance once again. The remaining combatants will then fight their way through the final bracket in the hope of achieving victory for their kingdom!" Professor Port continued jovially.

"And yes, Peter, these certainly are some spectacular spectacles on which to spectate on! I don't think anyone tuning in around the world is going to disagree with me on that!" Professor Oobleck said. "That being said, if Team SWRD and Team CRDL can report to the arena, for the next match." His voice was accompanied feedback as his speech became rushed and his tone louder.

The first team to enter was Team CRDL a group of four brutish lads who seemed to be rather uniform in similar looking cuiress many voices from Beacon silenced as Cardin looked around trying to get a little bit of hype going in the audience. Shortly after, Team SWRD entered and the excitement levels immediately rose again. Each member so wildly differing in style, they just felt like a cut and paste group. However, the intrigue behind the fight was felt by regulars and newcomers alike as people were excited to see what a school-less team would look like in action. A microphone baton, a giant two-handed blade, a segmented thin blade, and a seemingly unarmed combatant were on display.

The battlefield was beginning to be chosen but during the selection choice, Aqua saw that Cardin's gaze was locked on her. She flattened her ears in disgust at the hateful gaze he had solidly pointed at her. She was suddenly looking forward to defeating him a second time.

A ruined city spawned behind Team SWRD and was shortly followed by forest area rising up across from it. The arena was set, all that was left was the fight.

"3! 2! 1!"

Sora ran forward and the chain version of the blade slipped down from his sleeve as he jumped through the air to attack Cardin. His jump was intercepted by a flipping double dagger wielding figure. Sora was flung to the side by the momentum but as he landed he rolled back over to his feet. A revolver slid into his free hand as Russel, a green-mohawk toting lad, was getting ready to follow up. His swords swung with a fast rhythmic flurry, Sora kept leaping backwards attempting to avoid the attacks. Shortly after, he let his chain sword fold over into a shield like formation and locked it in place. This dance was deadly and it was slowly forcing Sora back towards a portion of the arena where the forest met the city.

Dove, the shortest member of the team, had heard about the fight between Weiss and Dante. So he had proposed before hand that he would be the best person to try and fight Dante over anyone else. He made his way over to Dante with longsword and attempted to engage in a fight with him. Dante however was quick to dodge the attacks. A fact that was not lost on Weiss who was watching. He was moving a whole lot faster than when he fought her and Yang two days prior. How much faster can he move? Dante had yet to remove his blade from his back.

Rise dashed forward watching as things were changing. She decided that the one with the halberd was going to be hers. Sky, last name Lark to fit the L in their team, was blue hair teen with medium long hair that was completely pushed back. As Rise approached, he gave a nice long swing with his weapon but she cast her legs out sideways, sailing right over the weapon. She landed down on the ground as she casually recovered to her feet in a crouched position swept her opponents legs with her weapon. She popped up to a standing position and gave an excited squeal as she just replayed her last move back in her head, trying to picture the scene from another angle.

Cardin and Aqua stared off against each before Cardin started walking across the battlefield towards her. His walk soon turned into a dead sprint. Aqua put herself in a battle ready pose. Cardin launched himself upward with his mace pulled back. As he approached the ground he let go a mighty swing and Aqua performed a handspring backwards to avoid the attack. Cardin continued to swing with reckless might. Aqua could not recognize him as the boy she fought just a week ago. Something about him was particularly wrathful on this day. That was when she saw it. It was faint, but it was there. A quick flash of yellow across his eyes was all she needed to see to know that he was tapped into some kind of darkness. And that darkness screamed for her blood forced her into a tactical retreat.

It took Sora a while to figure out the rhythm of his opponents aggressive swings. But once he found it, he was finally able to start taking small shots at him. Sora did not like that he could no longer see his team. Sora was thinking that he might need to bust out his semblance to try and take out this guy quickly. It was not that his opponent was a particularly powerful fighter, but his speed was making him an elusive enough of a target that Sora could not land many solid blows against him.

"Oh, what an incredible start to an incredible fight. It seems that Team CRDL is in rare form today. They do not want to be eliminated this early from the competition. What do you say Barty?" Professor Port's commentating voice rang out over the arena.

"Why yes, I would say that it was unfortunate for them to find themselves in a fight with Team SWRD of all teams, but while many in this audience were likely expecting a total shut out, they are putting on quite the display of skill today!" Doctor Oobleck called out.

Sora finally made the decision and jump back away from his opponent. His feet made contact with the tree behind him and seemed to dash unbelievably fast between the trees around him. "And it seems that the leader of Team SWRD has decided to use his Semblance. His semblance is called Flowmotion, a power that lets him use his Aura to grip onto surfaces and propel himself in the directions that he jumps in as incredible speeds!" Doctor Oobleck announced. Russel looked around wildly trying to keep up with Sora's immense speed.

"Just how fast is he going?" Jaune asked out loud in the stands. He looked at the members of his team and Team RWBY. They all looked to be just as impressed with his display.

Sora launched himself across the area that Russel stood and dragged his chain blade across his back. This knocked Russel off balance as Sora slid across the ground and planted a massive blow against his opponent launching him into the air. Sora dashed to a nearby tree and then launched himself at his now airborne opponent.

Cardin's onslaught continued as Aqua was forced into the city ruins. Any blows she landed against his wild swinging seemed to go unnoticed by him and as she tried to catch glances at the board to check his aura level, it had barely moved at all. She was going to need to find a new tactic because this one was clearly not working. Leaping over a low sweep, she stabbed her blade downward and a spire of earth embedded itself into the ground at Cardin's feet and engulfed them in that stone. She then jumped in through a window into the building. She needed to get up high if this plan was going to work.

Dante pushed Dove away as he tried to get an eye on other things around the battlefield. Rise was handling her target just fine. He looked to the giant screen to see Sora dominating his fight. He then heard the sounds of destruction coming from the ruined city. Trying to find the source, he felt himself get hit in the back by Dove. Turning back around, Dante took the sword off his back and swung it around fast towards the long sword, crashing it into its own wielder. He ran off towards the city ruins to figure out what was going over there.

Rise was dealing with Sky pretty handedly. It was not until she found herself also being attacked by Dove that she started looking at the battlefield. She was bouncing around the central platform taking full advantage of the flat terrain. Finally, after nearly two minutes of using her predictive power to avoid the attacks, she saw Sora practically gliding across the platform with his revolver pointed forward.

"And with that blow, Russel Thrush has been eliminated by Aura Level!" Professor Port's voice announced. As Sora's feet finally touched down on the ground, he stayed in a dead sprint and as Dove turned to look at him, a massive blast of dust was released as steam blinded Dove. Sora wrapped his chain blade around his leg, to slow himself down enough to swing around into Sky with both his feet.

"Where's Dante?" Sora asked. Rise shook her head. They both looked over at the two boys struggling to get their feet back under them.

Dante got to the building and felt the tremors higher up. He jumped into a window and ran up the building. A few stories up, the floor above him suddenly crumbled in and he pulled himself out of the way with his semblance. "Hey! Watch it up there!" He kicked off the wall and tried to jump up through the hole in the ceiling. As he got up above the threshold he spun midair and saw Cardin's mace already heading through the air at him. Dante put his blade up to block and was launched backwards through the building wall. Dante barely caught the edge as he was hanging some forty feet in the air. "Aqua keep going!" He called in as he launched himself up to grab a ledge higher up and climbed his way up the outside of the building. After a couple minutes of navigating the side of the building, he arrived at the top where Aqua had arrived and the two of them were catching their breath.

"He is being affected by darkness, Dante. We need to find a way to take him out without it being obvious that this any different," Aqua said to him looking over at Sora and Rise fighting the two other members of the team. "Preferably before it takes all four of us to fight him."

Dante nodded and he looked back at his blade, "I better use the hidden mechanism then. We'll take him out one way or another." He took his blade out and the blade separated down the sharpened edge. The twin barrels collapsed down to the handle and the blade fell outward, locking into place over his hands. He then flicked the blades forward and it became clear that this was a bladed gauntlet over twin pistols. "Let's do this," Dante said as the two felt the approach of Cardin.

"He'll transform his weapon for Cardin?" Weiss said, clearly insulted.

Blake shook her head, "Something is wrong. I think Cardin's being affected by darkness."

"Like what you told us about the warning from Aqua?" Yang asked. "I guess that could explain how Cardin just threw Dante through a wall."

"Oh no!" Ruby said as she pointed at the top of the ruined city building.

Aqua jumped backwards narrowly avoiding a heavy swing of Cardin's weapon. Cardin flipped over with the momentum and brought the mace down on her new position. Aqua activated her semblance to enforce a barrier between her and the attack. The air shimmered with hexagonal plates of energy. The mace clashed with the barrier.

"U-uh, an incredible use of Ms. Wayfinder's Semblance of Barrier," Professor Port announced. There was something in his voice like he realized something was not right.

Aqua felt herself being pushed through the roof beneath her from the force. Dante let loose a barrage of bullets into Cardin's back. Aqua crashed down through the roof and Cardin turned on Dante. Charging at him, Dante dodged the mace and grabbed Cardin's arm. He flipped him up and over his shoulder and off the side of the roof. The sight would have been super impressive, if Cardin had not managed to get hand on Dante's arm and pulled him off the roof with him. Dante swung his bladed fist multiple times trying to get Cardin to let him go. Cardin held onto him and swung him down beneath him and Dante felt the full brunt of the impact with the ground.

"Damn it!" Dante grunted through clenched teeth as Cardin reared up to start bringing his mace down on Dante. "I hate this world's limits on my powers!"

"Dante!" Pyrrha and Weiss called out. A quick glance at the screen with the Aura levels showed that Dante had just taken a heavy blow.

The mace came down and Dante barely managed to get his hands in front of him before it made contact. He felt the vibrations rattle his brain as he barely managed to keep the mace off his face. He needed to change this up fast. As Cardin pulled his weapon back, Dante used his semblance to launched backward towards the center of the arena. Rolling to his feet, Dante got his weapons up and decided he was going to have to treat this fight a whole lot more carefully. Dante dodged around swings and took his shots carefully and whittled away at Cardin's Aura levels. He was getting close. Once he was eliminated, if he kept at it, there could be some intervention to be offered.

Dante looked up as a shadow crossed over him and above him was Sora weapon pulled back. Cardin knocked off balance and Dante took his opportunity to plant a rapid series of punches to Cardin's gut. With his last punch, Cardin's Aura level finally dipped down below the threshold and there was almost an immediate change in him. The darkness seemed to drain away from him. Dante plopped down to a sitting position. He looked over at Rise, who was still wasting the time of the remaining two members of the opposing team. Aqua dropped down from a window and made her way across the arena.

Sora grabbed Dante's arm and helped him to his feet. Dante untransformed the blade and put it on his back. Sora ran after Aqua.

Rise was knocked backwards when Aqua jumped off the back of Dove and smacked Sky in the face with her feet. Sora then brought his shielded arm through both of their current positions.

"A decisive victory for Team SWRD! They will be moving on to the next round!" Professor Port announced and the audience erupted into cheers. Team SWRD made their way out of the arena and as they got to the prep room, Dante sat down with a huff on a nearby bench.

Aqua walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you ok, Dante? You fell nearly 9 stories off of that building."

"Well, if I was in full form, it wouldn't have happened in the first place," Dante said somewhat bitterly. "This whole, not being a demon on this world thing is getting under my skin. We have been here three weeks and we're no closer to figuring out anything that is going on." Dante straightened out his back and listened to every vertebrae pop.

Sora sat down across from him and answered, "Tell me about it. I have been wielding the keyblade for so long, that not having it is making me nervous." The team sat quietly.

Rise finally said, "We still got a win though right?" Her efforts to cheer them up were appreciated by the whole group. "Well let's get going, our friends await!"


	18. Chapter 18

Sora and the rest of Team SWRD found themselves in the Headmaster's office surrounded by serious faces and footage of their fight with Cardin. Dante was leaned back and comfortable, clearly unfazed by the atmosphere of the room. Rise was incredibly straight backed and had an air of professional poise. Aqua was very stoic and often had her eyes closed in focus. Sora meanwhile was a little squirmy under all the pressure of the room.

"What happened here?" the man known as James Ironwood asked. When they had first seen him, Dante had described him as silver fox with a stick up his ass. In this situation, the rest of the team was very ready to agree.

"The thing that happened there," Dante started, "was the thing we were warning you could be possible since we arrived on this world." Dante raised his hands as if to say 'what can you do.' The general seemed to get a bit steamed before he was cut off by the slurred voice of Qrow Branwen.

"Surprise, Jimmy doesn't take warnings seriously," Qrow exclaimed. His grey jacket and red cloak seemed to be just a little worse for wear after months out on missions nearly non-stop. "But honestly, what is actually happening in this fight?"

"Cardin was being affected by darkness," Aqua remarked. "It has the tendency to seduce those filled with hate. It is just lucky he faced us when he did before he had the chance to fully give into it."

"We've seen it happen to two different people," Sora remarked bitterly.

"It has even affected me before," Aqua added.

Glynda's eyes narrowed in distrust as she began to ask, "Are you suggesting that we are sitting in a room with a ticking ti-?"

"No," Dante interrupted loudly. He sat forward from his relaxed pose. "Aqua was stranded in the darkness for over a decade before it was finally forced into her by someone else. She is not a timebomb, she is the single safest person in this room." All three of his teammates were caught off guard by the sudden outburst from him. Something about the topic had stoked a fire in him that made him much more aggressive than any of them had ever seen.

"No one is accusing anyone of anything," Ozpin explained. "We just have concerns over the fact that the darkness can seem to overwrite the rules of our world as we know it."

"You have a funny way of showing that," Rise remarked under her breath.

Sora decided to take back the conversation and asked, "Do you have any ideas where the keyhole might be?"

"I am afraid that I do not," Ozpin answered. "It was something that my friend Yen Sid did not look for while he was here back then."

Dante fell back into his chair and asked, "Can we go then? Clearly this conversation isn't going anywhere. You can't help us and you won't listen to us. Just let us do our job and we'll be out of your hair."

"Listen here you-" Ironwood started.

"No, you listen," Dante replied. "This is our job. You're only in on this because Ozpin let you in on it. There is no way that I am going to be told how to do my job by a guy who can't even listen long enough to know that he is out of his league."

"I like this guy a lot," Qrow commented with a chuckle.

Ironwood gave Qrow a look and it was responded to with a shrug and the revealing of a flask. Before Ironwood could continue, Ozpin said, "You are all free to go." Team SWRD stood up from their sitting positions at the desk. The team headed back to the elevator and as soon as the door closed, Rise gave the most exasperated sigh that any of them had ever heard.

"Why are adults so dense! No offence you two," Rise complained. "What do we do now?"

"Well, they are going to cover up what happened as best they can," Aqua said. "That should hopefully keep people from getting in our way or into our business. I hope."

The team finished riding down to the ground floor where they came across Pyrrha Nikos. "Oh hello," she said to them as they got off the elevator. "Are you all doing well after your fight?"

"We are fine," Rise said with a smile. "Congrats on your win today!" Her tone completely shifted from just a few moments previously.

"Thank you. We are looking forward to the doubles round. Nora and I are going forward. Have you decided which of you will be going on to the next round, yet?" Pyrrha asked.

"Not yet," Sora commented. "We have been a little busy since the end of the round, but we will submit out doubles contestants soon." The team said farewell to Pyrrha as she took her place on the elevator. "I wonder what Pyrrha is doing here."

Dante watched the doors close as Pyrrha smiles and waves, "She is a super promising fighter. It would not surprise me if she was being considered for special training or missions of some kind."

As they left the tower, Team SWRD needed to make important decisions. "We need to figure out what we are going to do about keeping our cover and getting some ground work done," Rise commented. "Who goes into the next round and who is going to investigate the area to try and find more information in the meantime?"

"The way I see it is that we should have at least one keybearer out of the ring," Aqua commented. "In case we can find the keyhole during the festival."

"Sora and I could be the combatants," Rise suggested. "We worked well together during the fight with Team CRDL and that way if the investigation away from the arena goes south, we have two people who also work well together." What she did not tell them was the fact that she had been woken up by Aqua's cries in her sleep from the night Dante and Aqua talked to each other. Rise decided that she wanted to play a little bit of matchmaker because it was made clear to her that night that they needed each other. They were both grown adults in comparison to her and Sora. If anyone was going to know how they were feeling, it would be each other.

"Sounds good to me, but are you sure you are up for it Rise?" Dante asked. "I mean you have gotten good, but presumably teams are going to be sending their best and strongest."

Rise nodded and replied, "But, the people in the arena are much less likely to fight dirty, so I think I will have less to worry about in terms of fighting for my life." She spoke with a deadpan serious voice but her exaggerated expression got a chuckle out of Dante. He recognized the practice from Yu during the day after the Red Fog incident.

He put his hands up in mock surrender and replied, "Point taken."

"So, where are you guys going to start looking?" Sora asked folding his hands together behind his head.

"Well," Dante started, "I'll tell you where I am not going. The CTT. I have something to look into first and I don't trust looking there. I will be at the library." The team was taken aback by his willingness to go into a library. Clearly it was written on their faces as Dante said, "What? In my line of work you have to be willing to do some research if you want to survive."

"Alright," Rise said.

Aqua held back a small laugh at the reaction and then she said, "I will ask around about important landmarks or historic locations. Chances are the keyhole will make itself manifest in those important types locations."

Sora hummed in confirmation and the added, "Rise and I will start working on our teamwork get ourselves ready for the doubles round."

"We're gonna knock 'em out of the park! Or at least the arena," Rise cheered.

* * *

Dante had been looking through all the resources he could find in the school library and was getting ready to start looking for local bookstores. Books and documents on the CTT and the Scroll systems. As his research was still coming up with nothing, he was pretty sure this location was a wash. Aqua walked over to him, a bit of slowness in her gait as she had been walking around a lot.

"Well? Any luck?" Dante asked her as she approached. She shook her head. "Yeah, me neither."

"What exactly are you looking for, Dante?" Aqua asked checking out the book he was looking in at that moment.

Dante sighed as he rubbed a tired eye. "I am not entirely certain. A couple days ago, I plugged my scroll into one of the school system ports and I noticed something pop up on the screen for a brief moment. A chess piece. I have looked over every single thing I could find on the systems in place and I have found nothing on it. I don't think it's supposed to be there and I can't even get it to come back up," Dante explained.

"Then why was it there?" Aqua asked.

Dante shook his head and replied, "Well if wasn't supposed to be, that would mean it's some kind of computer virus. Which means that someone put it there on purpose. And if they did, it couldn't have gone completely unnoticed. And that means someone has not been telling us everything about what has been going on recently. Wanna guess which people that description applies to?"

Aqua shook her head and answered, "Ozpin, Ironwood, Goodwitch, and Branwen."

"Four-for-four. I'm impressed," Dante told her playfully before he looked physically defeated by his research. He stood up and said, "Let's go for a walk, I am cooped up and don't like wasting my time."

Aqua nodded and the two of them left the library. As they walked they created some idle chatter before Aqua decided to ask something a bit more serious. "Dante, do you mind if I ask you about your father?" Dante looked at her but gestured for her to go on. "You've talked about what he stood for and how it has shaped you, but you've never really talked much about him as a father. What was he like?"

"As a father? I don't remember much. He was gone by the time Vergil and I turned seven and I gave up waiting for him to come back when demons attacked my home and killed my mother over a year later. I don't think he ever really planned on coming back considering he left the Yamato and Rebellion to his two kids. Both of them just happen to be keys for sealing and opening the gateways to Hell. Maybe he intended for us to go and get him when we were grown but it has been over 30 years since he disappeared and I have been to Hell twice and not a single word from or about him. I hate the man despite how much his worldview shaped me. My mother would still be alive if he had just been there," Dante explained.

"When we were in the Realm of Darkness, I remember you telling Riku that you couldn't be sure that you would have not been like your brother. Based on whether or not your mother had found him and not you the night you lost them both. Why did you say that?" Aqua asked.

Dante looked down as his pace slowed to a crawl. "There is a reason I wear black and red, y'know? Red was my mother's color. I don't remember her very well either. I do remember that had this fire about her. A will, a passion that transcended her own humanity and allowed her to love a demon. She tried to protect us the night we were attacked. She tried to find Vergil but was cut down before she could get to him. I embraced humanity because of her. Vergil instead embraced his demonic side," Dante told her. "I can't say I blame him though. He probably felt that Mom abandoned him for me. I don't think he ever found out that she died trying to find him. He probably should of known that though. That was the kind of woman that our mother was for her family."

"She sounds like an incredible woman," Aqua remarked with a smile.

Dante nodded and replied, "You would have liked her. I know she would have liked you, you have a similar spark when it comes to the people you care about." This retrieved a deep blush from her. The two of them continued to walk and after a moment Dante decided to ask. "If you don't mind, who are Ven and Terra?"

Aqua got quiet before she finally replied, "They are friends of mine from back before my time in the Realm of Darkness. They were training with me to become Keyblade Masters under our Master Eraqus. Terra was his son and Ven was a student of another master before he was left to train with us. Ven originally trained under Master Xehanort who-"

"Wait, like bald 'Evil Guy McWiggle-Fingers' Xehanort?" Dante asked. He had only ever had the man described to him by Sora before.

The description did not go unnoticed as it drew an uncharacteristically disarming giggle from Aqua. "When you say it like that…" she tried to reply but was having difficulty because of the laughs now escaping her. As she finally was able to contain herself she quickly sobered up. "Yes, that was the same man. He broke Ven. He ripped the darkness off of his heart and left broken fragments in the wake of his experiments. Terra however was also being affected. Master Xehanort used darkness to seduce Terra with is power. But he just wanted to turn Terra into a host for him. For 10 years now, Terra has been trapped and Ven has been asleep after his heart was broken again trying to protect us from the darkness Xehanort tore away from him. I miss them so much. I just want to save them."

Dante listened closely to her. The two of them meant a lot to her and he could tell that not being able to help them was tearing her up inside.

"Dante, how do you know Terra's name?" Aqua asked.

Dante tilted his head slightly. "You talked about him, maybe not with me. But you have talked about him. Including when you have been having nightmares," he told her. "I want to get to know you, Aqua. Maybe help you not have to carry so much on your shoulders alone."

Aqua gave him a sad smile. She then said, "If you don't mind my saying, I think you may have that same spark you describe your mother with." The two of them had a quiet moment together when Dante heard the sound of breaking glass nearby. He looked around and saw someone run past the end of an alleyway. He looked back at Aqua who nodded and the two of them took off down the alley after them.

Making their way around the corner, Dante caught sight of brown and pink hair disappearing over the edge of the roof atop a fire escape. Dante knelt down in front of the escaped and Aqua jumped into hand being launched up a couple stories. He then jumped off the opposite wall and landed on the bottom platform, the two of them rushed up the escape. Upon getting on top of the building they saw the small woman across the way, leaned over whatever her prize was from the job she just finished.

"Hey, it isn't nice to take things that don't belong to you," Dante called over to her as he approached. She turned and both her eyes were white before they changed to their normal heterochromic state, one brown and one pink. "You are literally the living embodiment of Neapolitan Ice Cream now, aren't you?" The 'Ice Cream' lady said nothing as she stood up and hid her prize within a bag on her side. She took the umbrella off her back and pointed it at the two who followed her.

"Dante be careful," Aqua warned him. "She is no normal thief." This remark earned her a confident smirk from the mute girl. The ice cream girl jumped forward with the umbrella and blade extended from the end towards Dante. He narrowly dodged the lunge as he swayed under the attack he tried to launch his knee into his attacker but the attack was blocked by the open umbrella.

Aqua ran forward and attempted to catch the small girl off guard, but a stylish flip caused her to dodge the attack and land on the ground back flipping away from the two. She sat down on the concrete edge guard, she crossed her legs cheekily with the umbrella open behind her and she winked at the two of them. Dante ran forward and thrust his blade forward just to have the girl suddenly shatter. He looked around and could not find any sign of her.

"Well, hopefully, Sora and Rise are having better luck getting ready for the festival," Aqua commented idly.

* * *

Sora and Rise continued their practice sparring as they tried to get a feel for the other's fighting style. Fast pace, slow pace. There was a time where the two of them could not get into a good groove anymore and so they needed to just take some time to cool down. Sora sat down as they took a break. Rise plopped herself down in a seat next to him. "I am exhausted. How are you only barely breathing heavy?" Rise half-heartedly complained.

"Years of constant combat?" Sora offered. This got him a mocking look from her. The two of them shared a laugh from their interaction. As they calmed, Sora looked at Rise and asked, "Rise, do you miss your friends?"

Rise calmed down and could not quite look at Sora while she answered, "Of course, I do. I love all of them so much. But that is also why I am doing this. Even if it costs me my return to show-biz, I will have done something greater than I could have ever imagined. This adventure and this case has been incredible so far. And I am ready to put everything I am made of into this."

Sora nodded at the answer. She was truly resolved and Sora could only respect it. It was the type of resolve that he had before he lost Kairi. His expression had fallen and Rise immediately noticed. "Sora? What's wrong?"

"I just can't help but think of the way things should have gone. Kairi should be the one here, y'know?" Sora told her.

Rise had almost felt hurt by the remark, but she knew that he did not mean it that way. It was not that he did not want her here, but that he did not want their meeting to be at the hands of the death of Kairi. She thought back to the picture that Dante had in his pocket. She was a beautiful girl and from what Dante had mentioned, the two of them were entirely dedicated to each other.

"Can I say something, you may not want to hear?" Rise asked.

Sora nodded.

"I know that Kairi means a lot to you. If you keep punishing yourself over this though, you are going to tear yourself apart. You are going to eventually leave yourself feeling hollow. I am worried about you, Dante is worried about you. Aqua is probably worried about you too if she has noticed it. It is fine to miss her, but you have to start looking forward," Rise told him. "Let yourself be mad that she is gone, then take that energy and put it towards something constructive. We are here for you now, so you need to start looking forward with us." Rise remembered the monster that Sora had transformed into back in Inaba. Something that she was scared of happening again, which is why he needed to let some of his anger go before it boiled over again.

Sora listened quietly and his initial lack of response made Rise think that she might have gone too far. But Sora looked over at her and finally said, "You're right. I need to keep moving forward. Can I just take a little time and let myself get a little mad for a bit?"

Rise nodded and Sora got up and headed out of the arena. Rise waited in the training arena and just let her mind wander. But when a noise caught her attention she looked up and saw someone in the room. Ren and Jaune walked into the training arena and found Rise sitting off to the side of it.

"Oh, hey Rise. Congrats on your big fight!" Jaune said to her.

Ren in a much calmer way added, "It was truly impressive to watch."

"Thanks guys!" Rise exclaimed with an excited performers wave. She got up and walked over to them. "How are you two doing? I heard Pyrrha and Nora were going on to the next round."

Ren nodded and said, "Jaune doesn't know his semblance yet and I try to avoid unnecessary conflict. Between that, Pyrrha being a world class fighter, and Nora's overwhelming strength, there was no reason to try and put us in their place."

"I see," Rise commented. "Did either of you two see Sora on your way in?" They both shook their heads. "Well, I'll get out of your way. I need to go find him so we can get ready for the doubles round."

Jaune seemed surprised by this. "I would have figured Dante or Aqua would go into the next round," Jaune said. Rise resisted flinching at the remark. She knew that Dante and Aqua were better fighters than her, but to have someone say that so directly to her made her feel a little self conscious about her place with them. Maybe the best word for it was inadequate.

"Well, I'll see you two later," Rise said evenly and she headed out. She could think about it later, for now she needed to stay focused. As she left she was certain she heard Ren gently reprimand Jaune for his comment. That just made her feel worse. Just because it was true does not mean that he should have said it in the first place. She could cry about it later, for now she needed to find Sora.

After a few minutes of searching, she finally found Sora sitting out on the airship dock looking out over Vale. Rise walked over to him and saw his eyes were closed, she wanted to say something to him. Though he looked so peaceful, she knew that his world was basically dissolving around him. After a few moments, he spoke aloud, "Kairi. I know I promised that I would come back for you. But now there is no where that I will be able to go where you will be waiting for me. I am trying to get mad. Mad that you're gone, mad that you were killed. But to be honest, I'm scared of the darkness I have felt inside since you've been gone. It is eating away at me. And you would be terrified of the thing that is trying to tear its way out of me. I miss you, but you are gone now. And I don't think there is any way to get you back. The people who have tried to help me since you have passed are some of the most incredible and genuine people I have met. I just-" Sora paused for a moment and the tears finally spilled over. "I just wish that you didn't have to be the cost for them to be here. I wish that they could all live the lives they were in before I showed up on their world. That they didn't feel like they had to be here for me to keep me from being alone. It isn't fair to them that my life has taken them away from theirs. I care about them all, I am happy to know them all, but most of them don't know you. And I don't know if they really know me."

Rise just listened to his words as his emotions seemed to spill out of him. She could tell that he was not used to crying like this. He was so used to being strong for others, but he could not handle these feelings alone. She walked over to him and sat down next to him. Sora looked over at her and began trying to wipe the tears away. Rise grabbed his wrists and shook her head.

"Let it out, Sora," Rise said to him holding back tears of her own. Sora paused for a moment looking at her. She refused to let him make her back down, no matter how much he was pleading for it. When it was clear she was not going to back down, the tears started back up. As he cried, Rise spoke carefully, "Sora, I'm sorry. I didn't know where it was coming from. I am sorry for misunderstanding you. I am not as good at this being a good friend thing as Yu-senpai. I don't always know what to say. But, I didn't even want to think that the things you were feeling were beyond our help. We are here for you, Sora. And when you have time and are feeling up to it, I would love to hear all about Kairi. Your version of her."

The two of them stayed until the tears stopped and the two of them headed back to the practice arena.


	19. The Fog, No Real Me

While Ruby, Blake, Dante, Jaune, and Ren sat in the stands. Aqua had decided to watch via her scroll while she was still looking for potential locations for the keyhole. She needed to find the keyhole, the sooner they found it, the sooner this world would stop being interesting to the Organization. However, this day was uncharacteristically foggy. Aqua was having a hard time seeing around the town while she walked. She could only imagine what the fights in the arena were going to be like.

Her scroll buzzed in her pocket and she saw that it was from Rise. Answering the call, Aqua heard Rise's voice was focused and concerned. "Aqua, could I ask you to look into something for me?"

"Of course, what do you need?"

"This is going to sound weird, but could you ask around about this fog? It is making me think about stuff from the past and having someone look into it will help calm me down some," Rise said. Aqua agreed. "Thanks! It is probably nothing but having you look into it is really going to help calm my nerves," Rise said graciously and ended the call.

Aqua immediately walked over to the nearest building, but she was surprised to find that it was closed and in partially darkened windows, she saw police tape. Looking up at the name of the store she saw it said Tukson's Book Trade.

"Whoa! You're Aqua, right?" she heard a male voice behind her. Turning around, Aqua found herself face-to-face with a mop of blond hair and an open button down shirt. She identified him as Sun Wukong. A friend of Blake's and one of the two reasons that Team SSSN made it past round one. "We haven't introduced ourselves yet. My name is Sun." His tail flicked around behind him.

"It is nice to meet you, but aren't you and Neptune competing today?" Aqua asked concerned.

Sun pshawed and said, "I don't compete for like six hours. Besides, I do my best work when I procrastinate. Aren't your teammates Sora and Rise competing today? Why aren't YOU up there?"

"Watching it on my scroll, but point taken," Aqua said with a small smile. She looked back at the shop and thought for a while.

"It really sucks that this happened to one of our own, huh?" Sun commented.

Aqua looked over at him and asked, "What happened?"

"You haven't heard? They found the body of the owner here a month back. He had been dead for weeks when they found him," Sun explained. "Nobody knows what happened or why. As far as anyone here in Vale was concerned he was a standup citizen and a good store owner."

"Do they have any idea who did it or why?" Aqua asked.

Sun shook his head. "So why are you out here?" Sun asked.

"I am not really sure myself. Mostly just looking around the city since this the first time I have been here," Aqua replied. "By the way, is this fog normal for this area?"

"Well, I am not really from around here, but from what I have heard about this area in Vacuo is that it usually a temperate area but haven't heard much about fog. That is usually associated with Mistral," Sun explained.

"I see, so it is not an area known for being foggy," Aqua noted to herself. Aqua walked away from the store. She looked down at her phone and saw that the first round of the day for the doubles fights had begun. She pocketed the device and noticed that Sun was following her. "Can I help you, Sun?"

"Look, I don't get to hang out with Faunus too often. So, I gotta take my chances when I find them, y'know?" Sun explained walking around with his hands behind his head. Aqua was immediately reminded of Sora. Not only was it the same gesture, but that logic was kind of the same line of reasoning she could see Sora using to get to know people. "So…"

"You aren't going to get anywhere if you don't ask any questions, Sun," Aqua told him. Her attention, however was almost immediately drawn up to the sky as she looked at the fog. It looked like it was billowing. Moving in a direction which was strange. "Hold that thought," she said to him. Aqua jumped up and grabbed the fire escape. She climbed up onto the roof. She hoped that this was not going to be a habit. Sun used his Aura clones to throw himself up to the top of the building.

"What you watchin'?" Sun asked. He followed her gaze and saw what she was looking for. "That doesn't seem normal. Let's go."

"You really are desperate for company," Aqua commented. He just gave her a toothy smile. "Let's go," she said returning the smile. The two of them ran across the rooftop towards the direction the fog was billowing from. If they noticed it, others would eventually as well. Leaping across an alleyway, Aqua notice a sudden drop in the direction of the fog. She slid to a stop and looked down in the alleyway to see a man with short black hair and clad in a professional looking suit. It was strange, the fog seemed to be originating from a space behind him, slowly following him around the city. The thing that pulled her attention was the silver revolver in his hand. She took out her Scroll and snapped a photo of him. Maybe show this image to Rise when she got the chance to do so. However, as soon as she pocketed the device, the man's gaze slowly raised toward her. The look on his face unnerved her.

"This world is about to change. You best be careful, or you will find yourself removed from it," the suited man said to her. He then raised his gun at her and fired. Aqua threw herself to the side avoiding the shot and as she dropped down from the roof, she drew her blade.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Aqua demanded, her facial features hardening into an intense expression.

The man looked at her and his face turned to annoyed and he exclaimed, "Where does a brat like you get off demanding information from me? If you promise to let me shoot you, I'll tell you." Aqua was caught slightly off guard by his words. She stayed firm and as she made her intent for combat clear. The origin of the fog suddenly appeared next to him as an armored red-stained figure wielding a giant naginata style blade.

A shadow appeared over the suited man who looked up to see Sun falling from the roof above him. The red-stained figure lifted its blade to block the falling boy. The monkey boy flipped off of the weapon and commanded, "Leave her alone."

"Shut up!" the man shouted as he pointed his gun at the blond monkey boy. Pulling the trigger, Sun's nunchaku weapon lashed through the air and deflected the shot. "So frickin' annoying! Just die!" Aqua changed the man in the suit and when her swing was blocked by the short barrel, she was so surprised that she did not even notice the other hand that lashed out and almost completely winded her. The armored figure went to follow up on her, but Sun's run forward with two sets of nunchucks created a near constant flow of attacks and kept that being busy. His nunchucks were in constant motion but this large naginata was moving fast enough to keep up.

Aqua kept the bullets at bay now that she was aware of how absurdly strong this opponent actually was capable of being. However, when a dust blast from Sun's weapon hit the armored figure, her opponent gripped his head in pain and Aqua knew she recognized that detail. "You are a Persona-user?" Aqua asked.

A sudden focused look sent shivers down her spine. "Oh, so your that blue haired pain in the ass. Alright then Aqua, since it looks like we are going to have a longer relationship than I thought, my name is Tohru Adachi," Adachi introduced himself in a crazed tone. The two of them faced off with each for a while longer. Adachi charged forward and jabbed his gun forward. Aqua blocked the attack, but his downward momentum forced her blade down onto her shoulder. She could not believe the raw strength she was feeling just trying to resist this attack. Persona-users were scary when they had access to their Persona.

"What's the matter? Too much for you?" Adachi asked.

A boot to the face knocked Adachi away and Aqua bounced back away from the man and saw a familiar looking Pink and Brown haired woman. "You?"

The woman handed Aqua a note and struck a battle pose. "About the other day, thought you were with this guy, my name is Neo."

Aqua looked at Neo and then looked at Adachi. She readied herself for combat and this made Adachi look annoyed, and somewhat defeated. He raised his hand and a dark portal opened behind him. "We'll finish this another time, Aqua," Adachi said with a twitch of his eye. He disappeared into the portal.

"Aqua look out!" Sun called out charging Neo. Her expression turned irritated as she readied herself for combat.

"Sun, calm down," Aqua said as she stepped in front of Neo. Sun stopped and he was unsure what to do.

"But," Sun started. He started to get angry when Neo stuck her tongue out at him.

Aqua shook her head and said, "Sun, I will meet you back at the Coliseum, alright? Please, I need to talk to her."

Sun seemed to be really conflicted, but the look on Aqua's face was enough to convince him to stand down. "You better explain this to me later," Sun said and he made his way out of the alleyway. Aqua turned to Neo in the slightly thinning fog.

"So, what was this about?" Aqua asked, gesturing with the note in her hand.

Neo wrote down a note and handed it to Aqua. "I stole a badge off of him the other day because he was pretending to be a police officer. He was making some dark implications about me," Aqua read aloud. She looked at Neo and thought about Adachi's eyes. "Oh. So when you though Dante and I were after you…"

Neo nodded. A new note was produced. As she passed it to Aqua, the look on her face was one of conflicting emotions between concern and hesitation. Aqua read aloud once again., "Stay away from the one called Cinder," Aqua read and she looked up to see that Neo was gone. "That one does not slow down at all, does she?" Aqua took out her scroll and saw that Sora and Rise were in the arena. "Did they get moved up time slots?" Aqua asked herself. It had already been an hour? Time flew when you were fighting for your life, apparently. She watched the tail end of the fight. Rise was having some difficulty keeping up with her chosen opponent while Sora made fast decisive moves towards beating his own. Aqua hoped for the best on Rise's front as she was the least experienced fighter on their team. She had improved greatly, but her fight with Yang ended in only a tie because she could maximize her advantage. Maybe the fog was worrying her and splitting her attention. But as Aqua watched her Aura level go lower and lower, she was concerned. A close-up of Rise showed a down-trodden and worn out girl.

"Come on, Rise," Aqua said to her phone, her cat ears flattened against her head. Her opponent was approaching fast and Aqua had to close her eyes as Rise was knocked down and removed from the competition. Aqua needed to get to the Coliseum.

Aqua ran for the airship docks and got onto the next flight. She filed impatiently off of the ship and rushed her way to the Coliseum locker room. When she got there, she heard the sobbing. Following the sound, Aqua found Rise having dropped to her knees hugging herself and bawling. Aqua walked over and crouched down in front of Rise.

"Hey, are you ok?" Aqua asked.

Rise shook her head. "Aqua, why I am here? I can't fight like you guys can. Jaune was right, you or Dante should have taken my place in this round," Rise cried into her hands that she tried to hide herself behind.

"Rise where is this coming from? You helped save me from the Realm of Darkness, right?" Aqua said to her. "You don't have to be the best fighter here on Remnant. You just need to be Rise."

"I shouldn't be here, Aqua. You should have taken Yu-senpai or Kanji. Or just anyone who wasn't me," Rise cried out. "Sora didn't lose Kairi just to get stuck with me, did he?"

Aqua gasped. "Rise…" she said. "Stand up."

Rise looked up at her.

"Stand up, I need you to help me," Aqua said seriously. Rise needed to be needed right now. Aqua wanted her to feel needed. From over ten years in the Realm of Darkness, her experience with this kind of self doubt was something Aqua knew how to help with, even if she could not quite conquer it herself. She took Rise's hand and brought her to her feet. Pulling out the device from her pocket, Aqua said, "I looked into the fog for you. I need you to look at an image I captured."

Rise nodded as she tried to wipe the tears away. Aqua put the device up in front of her and Rise gasped. "Aqua where did you get this?" Rise asked.

"In town, do you know who that is?" Aqua asked.

"His name is Tohru Adachi. He was a Police Detective in Inaba. He's supposed to be in jail. Serving time for the serial murder case back home. What is he doing here?" Rise was a fountain of words and emotions as she tried to wrap her mind around what she was seeing. "He was on the tower that day during the Red Fog incident, but there was something different about him then. This makes him look like he reverted back to how he was when we confronted during the investigation."

Aqua remembered, "Xehanort is a master of Space and Time. He has been spreading his darkness to hosts for a long time. Maybe this is the version of Adachi that he made contact with. Which means that anyone from our pasts is fair game. That explains why Vergil is young again, because that is the version that was brought here. But never mind that for now, we just have to stay positive and keep a lookout."

"Aqua," Rise said seriously. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Don't ever question your worth like that again, ok? You wouldn't be here if you didn't have what it took. And Sora is happy to have you here, too. Even when it is painful for him," Aqua answered.

Suddenly, a voice broke over the PA. "With that ladies and Gentlemen, Sora has managed to pull off the two-on-one victory and his team will be moving on to the finals!" Announced Professor Port. Aqua grabbed Rise's hand and led her out onto the battlefield so they could go congratulate him together.

"Sora, you did it!" Rise cheered as she leapt to hug him. Sora caught her, then Aqua sandwiched Rise between her and Sora as she held onto them as well. Dante has also made his way into the arena. Though it turned out that he was just there to slowly guide them out rather than join in the group hug.

As the group finally made it off the arena, they sat down together in the locker room to share the information Aqua had found out from her time in town. Only pausing a moment when two competitors came through for their fight. The group members were all quiet in the revelation that so many avenues for problems to arise had been opened. "So, this guy Xehanort can bring people from the past to the present as long as his Darkness made connections with theirs? Well, that complicates things. A lot," Dante commented through gritted teeth.

"Also, Dante I ran into the ice cream lady, again," Aqua told Dante. He raised an eyebrow. "Turns out, her name is Neo. She ran from us last time because she thought we worked for Adachi and were trying to get her back for him. He apparently doesn't have the most polite way with women."

Rise nodded and added, "That is an understatement."

"Well, now I like this guy even less," Dante remarked. "His existence made me look like a bad guy. That's an attack on my character and I have a reputation to protect."

"Did you learn anything else today, Aqua?" Sora asked.

Aqua handed him the last note she received from Neo. "Stay away from the one called Cinder?" He asked. "Why would she warn us about the brunette girl from Haven? She is on the same team as that Emerald and Mercury duo who beat those upperclassmen earlier."

"I don't know," Aqua said. "The look on her face was the most confusing part. Like I think she wanted to warn me, in thanks for not being with that Adachi guy. But she also looked like she was unsure if warning me was the right thing to do."

Rise said, "Well, if working with the Investigation Team taught me anything, we should confirm this information before we try to do anything with it. We don't want to do anything hasty, that we might regret later." Her thoughts drifting toward a night in particular. The only night she could honestly say that she had seen Yu-senpai being wrathful and even a little bit scary. She did not blame him under the circumstances though.

"Good call," Sora said. "We'll keep an eye on it."

* * *

The last few days had been entirely too uneventful for the team to be comfortable. No sign of the Organization, no sign of the Keyhole, and they were fast approaching the end of the festival with the upcoming one-on-one face off rounds. They were running out of time to finish this job and disappear back into 'Remnant' as independent hunters. Sticking around after the tournament was not an option for their cover story.

Team RWBY had been trying to help in any way they could but there was always an underlying idea that they were still out of the loop on certain things. Which was something Ruby understood, more so than her team. Her insight into the background of Sora's adventure had really opened her eyes to what the worlds had to offer.

"So tonight, is the first round of the one v ones, huh?" Dante asked lazily staring at the Coliseum from the front courtyard. "It is supposed to be the first set and then the winners on the following night, right?"

"That is correct," Weiss commented matter-of-factly. "Yang will be moving on alongside Sora and Pyrrha as our team representatives. The face-offs will occur on a randomly determined basis so no preparation can occur. Just like a real job. Additionally, the fight is one completely based on one-on-one combat prowess. The only environmental modifier in play is a 'ring out' option for defeating their opponent."

Blake seemed to be quiet this morning as she seemed to be distracted by her own thoughts. Ruby was animatedly describing what she was looking forward to that night. Rise was over the top trying to cater to the three who were going to be moving on in the tournament. While Aqua was trying to go through a book for research purposes, she could not help but become increasingly distracted by the antics of the people around her. It seemed that Jaune was trying to calm down Nora who was yelling about something called 'green juice' and Ren defending his choices while wearing the apron he had shown up in that read, 'Please do nothing to the cook.'

"Hope you know I'm not going to take it easy on either of you," Yang said with a confident smile.

"I would never want you to," Pyrrha said, a bit downtrodden. Sora had noticed that she was emotionally down since she went to talk to the headmaster. He had figured that it could not have been some kind of discipline type issue, she was too good a student to be a troublemaker. If she had been given more responsibilities and training, her desire to be a huntress would likely fall right in line with that. It was bothering her deeply.

"Me neither," Sora said to Yang. Looking over to Pyrrha, he asked, "Hey, are you alright? You seem sad."

Pyrrha looked at Sora and she put on a smile as she said, "Just have a lot on my mind right now. Sorry to make you worry." Sora looked at her smile as she held it in place. It was fake. He could tell. At least she was trying, he had to appreciate that at least. Goofy and Donald knew just how many and how often he had done the same.

He smiled back and said, "Anything you wanna talk about? I am not a great thinker, but I am good at listening to my friends." This comment got a small laugh from her which in turn got one from him as well.

"If only talking about it could fix it," Pyrrha said with a sad smile. "But thank you, your team is lucky to have a friend and leader like you."

Sora blushed at the compliment and scratched the back of his head trying to move past the embarrassment. He finally replied, "Hey, I am your friend too, y'know?" Knowing she has someone to talk to should hopefully help her feel a little better, even if she doesn't take him up on the offer. The teams all spent their time together as the event came closer, they all made their way up to the stadium. Representatives from the doubles round winners all made their way to center stage. Waiting for the announcement of the contenders for the first match.

"Now for the moment you have all been waiting for," Professor Port's voice boomed. "The one-on-one finals! Barty, why don't you explain the rules?"

Oobleck's voice then announced, "Ah, it's quite simple, Peter. Instead of a bracket system, each round of the finals will be randomly determined immediately before the match takes place!"

"Much like any good hunt, there will be zero time to prepare!" Port added.

"Ah! Yes, yes," Oobleck replied. "Now, let's see who our first match will be!" The screen performed a fast roulette and the audience was treated to a familiar buxom blonde and a smug looking silver haired smirk. "Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!"

"Would all other combatants please leave the stage!" The other fighters all cleared off leaving the two depicted fighters out in the middle. The platform raised up and lights flooded the dedicated combat arena.

"You better not go easy on me," Yang playfully taunted with a smile.

Mercury just gave a dark chuckle and replied, "You wish."

They both took one last look at the crowd before they got into defensive fighting stances and slowly approached each other. For the audience, everyone knew this was going to be an interesting fight to watch. Two fighters who specialized in martial arts and weapons that simply stood to enhance that ability.

As the fight began, it was uncertain who had the upper hand. It seemed that one could not make a move without giving the other the opportunity to react. After an impressive display of control and a whirlwind of bullets that made Dante envious, Mercury had managed to land dozens of shots onto Yang in a moment. He walked away from the smoke before it erupted into a storm of fire. Yang landed a series of brutal blows and the fight ended with her victorious. The crowd was loving it. Ruby and the gang all cheered for her and even Pyrrha managed to give a happy display of encouragement.

What happened next, snuffed it all out in an instant. Yang suddenly turned on Mercury and shot a blast into his leg, snapping it at the joint. In a moment, Yang was surrounded by Atlesian Guards. The look on her face was one of confusion and concern. Dante looked at it and saw not the face of an aggressive predator but a lost and scared girl. The face of someone who was being messed with.

"Who did it to her?" Aqua's voice asked from next to him.

Dante shook his head. "Maybe Cinder? Or Emerald? The dark haired girl who was with them before? Whoever it was, they made Yang believe something happened. Based on her body language though, I don't know what."

"Self-defence," Aqua commented. "They must have made it look like he attacked first. But why sacrifice a leg for it? That is how he fights. There has to be something we are missing here."

"New thing to look into," Rise said suddenly. "Let's try to look into this as soon as we can." The three of them all agreed as the night appeared to be done and an investigation was being put into effect.

Meanwhile, standing up on the upper edges of the coliseum was a dark figure. It stood stoically with a massively long blade in its hand. A purple batwing like cape rested on top of a jade green dirtied suit of armor, that was lined with pulsating lines of energy. Watching the chaos down below, the figure was approached by another figure in a full black cloak.

"So, you see what it is we are offering you," asked a deep, clear voice.

The armored figure looked over at the hooded man.

"You help us with our goals, and we deliver to you the thing you want. That man down there will be yours," the hooded man continued. "The Keyblade War will happen, with or without you. But, if you want, you can be on the winning side of this War and not just a lone casualty in the aftershocks."

The armored figure nodded and the two now allies left through a Dark Corridor leaving behind the chaos occurring down below. They the armored figure would be back and he would get what he wanted. No, what he deserved, after all this time. Nothing was going to stop the plan.


	20. The Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy this extra long chapter. This chapter is written in fragments, much like the editing of the episode it is based upon. It is similar to the way I wrote the finale chapter of the Devil May Cry portion, but I think this will read much clearer if I have gotten better like I am hoping that I have.
> 
> ~Nox

Plans were put into motion. Sora would stay in the public eye to keep up the appearance. Dante, Aqua, and Rise were going to try to dig up evidence on the team from Haven. Aqua was going to try to find Neo and attempt to get some more information from her about Cinder and why she needs to stay away from her. Dante was going to try to dig up information on them as students from their apparent classmates. Finally, Rise was going to inquire with the local students anything that they may have learned from interacting with them during their stay in Vale at Beacon Academy. It was the only thing they could think to do before the night when the competition would continue and their friend's reputation and future were both likely on the line.

Rise's job was effectively completely useless. Seemed that nobody was able to get to know them as guests as they had mostly kept to themselves. So her time was spent at the dorm, trying to console an upset Yang and be a shining light for Pyrrha who was so downtrodden that it was becoming more and more obvious. However, even more so than her was Jaune who was being visually affected by her mood, it was clear that he did not like feeling like he could not help her.

"Hey, Jaune," Rise said to her as she caught him pacing in the hallway. "You, ok?"

"Rise," Jaune said quietly. "I just don't know what to do. Something is bothering Pyrrha and she can't seem to either put into words, or worse she won't and I just don't know what to do for her as her teammate, her team leader, or her…" He trailed off.

"Her guy," Rise filled in for him to his dismay. She smiled at him and reassured him, "Don't be embarrassed Jaune. You are a good guy to claim. I am super happy she has you. I think you just need to find someway to get her away from her problems. Even if temporarily. I have faith in you."

"Why?" Jaune asked.

Rise at first responded by speaking out of the side of the mouth, "Well… you had seven sisters for one point. My… boyfriend has one. A younger one, but that gentle nature that a brother has with their sisters is a good thing. We can really respond to it if you know how to use it properly, y'know? Get in touch with that and show her the support she deserves y'know?"

"Yeah," Jaune thought out loud. "I think I know what to do."

Rise winked at him and said, "I figured you would, Jaune. Go treat her well." Jaune nodded, completely oblivious to the wink. A detail that got a smile out of Rise. Whether it was obliviousness or commitment, Rise was happy.

Rise then bounced across the hall to the door to Team RWBY's room. A quick rhythmic bump on the door and she was surprised by the presence of Qrow Branwen. "Oh, hey there. I was just leaving. Sorry, to get in your way Rise."

Rise let him pass. She kept her expression neutral when he left. Heading into the dorm, before she could say anything to Yang, she was preempted.

"You know my uncle?" Yang asked.

Rise nodded. "He was in with Ozpin on our being included in the festival. I am not the biggest fan of him, but I think he means well," Rise explained.

"Yeah, he can really murder a good time, huh?" Yang remarked.

Rise looked at the girl for a moment and said, "Did you seriously just-?"

Yang nodded. "It's all I got, right now. Blake doesn't trust me, the world hates me, and I just need something to light up my day a little."

Rise walked over and sat down next to her. It was hard to believe that this was the girl that she had fought just after arriving in the school for the first time. Yang needed someone in her corner. Maybe it would be her. 'Himiko,' Rise thought to her Persona, 'if there is anything you can do for me while we are here on Remnant. Let me do it now.'

Rise and Yang suddenly felt themselves almost separate from their physical forms. "What?" Yang asked. "Where are we? It looks like we're just floating in the night sky."

Rise looked at her and stand with her was Himiko, her Persona. "Yang, I have to tell you something. This is my Persona. A power I have otherwise been unable to access while on your world. My Persona is a power I was only able to achieve through confrontation of my worst nightmare. Everything that I had hidden within. My shadow. When I saw what happened last night, I was confused and concerned. But you were too. I know that you did not do that maliciously. And to prove that to you, I want to tell you why I had to face this shadow," Rise explained.

Yang looked at the entity that stood next to Rise. "Uh, sure," Yang said, still trying to process the sight she saw before her.

"On my world, I am an Idol. You hit the nail right on the head. The fate I resigned myself to was that I was only ever going to be what people were wanting to see. I was losing my identity and the darkness inside of me wanted to bare everything to my whole world. I do mean everything. Just to see if I was still alive," Rise admitted. As she spoke, Yang could almost see in the environment around her images of Rise as an idol, her shadow in bikini, the monster that it became and the people who fought for her. "How shallow is that, right? My big embarrassing secret is that I was a shy little girl, who let the world tell her who she was so long, she lost herself." Yang looked on at Rise as she told her this. "I believe in you, Yang. If you say you did not do it, then you didn't. And if I ever say otherwise, you can tell everyone you know my secret, ok?"

The two of them found themselves back in the dorm room sitting next to each other again. Yang put her arms around Rise and said, "Thank you for believing me."

* * *

Aqua walked through Vale and felt the device in her pocket vibrate. Taking the scroll she read a note from Dante saying that none of the Mistral Students he could find knew anything about them. So, it looked like the finding of information was going to fall to her and Rise. Aqua started by heading to the first two places she found Neo before. Not sure what she was expecting, but there was no sign of her. However, Aqua did find someone else.

"Aqua," Sun Wukong said to her as he approached. "Are you looking for that mute freak again?"

"Yeah, she had information I need and I have no idea on how to find her again," Aqua answered. "And before you get the wrong idea, I don't consider her an ally. But she has shown a willingness to help me, for whatever reason." She looked back at him and certainly had a slightly indignant look on his face. She sighed and sat down on a nearby bench saying, "It is the only way I can think of trying to help Yang, right now."

This admission got a softer look from Sun. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that," Sun finally replied. "Well. what do you have so far?" Sun sat down next to her.

"Well, Dante and I know that she was not herself at the end of the fight. She was being manipulated somehow. After her attack, she was genuinely confused by why people were turning on her. She went from angry to scared. Something happened in her mind," Aqua commented. "I was hoping to find information on Mercury and his team. Particularly the one named Cinder. That girl Neo tried to warn me about her before and now I need to find out why."

Sun nodded. The two of them thought for a while and then he said, "Maybe she's downtown in the seedier parts of town. My teammate Neptune went to a pretty sketchy nightclub a while back. Might be a good place to try." He lead Aqua towards downtown.

Aqua followed Sun. His mind was a weird one. Clearly, the situation with Neo is not sitting well with him. But he was helping Aqua anyway. "Sun, why are you helping me if you don't like what I am doing?"

"You are helping Yang, and Yang is important to Blake. Blake is my closest friend on that team. I have to do my part too. And sure I may not like it, but Blake seems to trust you. So if it helps my friends, I am all for it then," Sun explained. So it was both convenient and useful. Aqua could not help but admire that. He would deal with things he was opposed to if it meant helping a friend.

Aqua nodded and said, "Well, let's go fix this then." The two of them picked up the pace as they made their way to the nightclub. "Junior's?" Aqua asked aloud. She may not have been the most familiar with the modern day nightlife, but something just seemed off about the name. The whole idea was just not sitting well with her.

"Yeah, the name sucks. But Yang apparently swears by their Strawberry Sunrises. Assuming you can get them to serve you," Sun commented. "Also, they apparently don't have those little umbrellas." The two of them saw that the business was currently closed, to be open in an hour. "Well that means it is close enough to the start of their day, people will be here. Let's go."

Walking through the currently unlocked door, the two of them passed through an initial lobby and into the main portion of the building. A large number of men in glasses and suits walked about, getting the club ready for the night. There was a man behind the bat who looked noticeably different from the others. Aqua had him pegged for being Junior.

"Excuse me," she asked as she approached. "I was hoping you could help me find someone?"

"Wha-?" the man's voice said as he turned to look at her. "The last time someone I didn't know came here looking for information on someone, my club got destroyed. So, give me an explanation on why you are here before I have you removed, Blue."

"The name is Aqua," she replied. "I am looking for a short woman. Her name is Neo. I heard she is often seen downtown and figured a business owner like you Junior would have their finger on the pulse of the town."

"The quiet one? She hasn't been here recently. Not since that guy Roman Torchwick got pinched by the hunters a while back," Junior explained. "Last I heard she was hiding out locally. That's all I know though."

Aqua nodded and said, "Thank you for the information, Junior." She turned away and collected Sun on her way out. "She is hiding out somewhere nearby. Maybe even elsewhere in the building," she explained to him.

"How can you tell?" Sun asked as they headed out of the lobby.

Aqua looked back at him and said, "He knows Neo and her boss. No one is going to betray someone they think could be a danger to them. Vague enough to not provide specifics, but also a pointed attempt to sound honest."

"Makes sense to me," Sun replied. "Where do we start?"

Aqua stopped and crossed her arms and rested her chin in her hand as she thought. "Assuming that this Cinder person she warned me about is planning something," Aqua thought out loud, "and if she is working her, then she would need to help deal with the biggest source of opposition. Maybe?"

Sun suggested out loud, "What about the Atlas Military ships? They are supposed to be doing security for the festival and they were even the ones who detained Yang after last night." Aqua agreed that it made a lot of sense. Aqua found herself going up to the rooftops for the third time this week. Sun followed her and as they got to the top of the building, Sun asked, "So is being on the roof a thing for you or…?"

Aqua rolled her eyes as she looked around. "I need to find the tallest building or a loading dock that goes to those ships. Getting the high ground allows you a way to see both the ships and the city, the loading dock allows you access to ideas on security and even getting onto the ship," Aqua explained. Looking at the roof of a nearby building, she saw her. Aqua ran across the rooftops and Sun followed close behind. Aqua made her way up the taller building and when she got to the top, Neo turned around suddenly.

"Neo, I need to ask you something and I need you to be honest with me. If you answer me honestly, I promise there will be no problems here and now, ok?" Aqua explained. This got the raised eyebrow from her. "Yang Xiao Long is currently involved in a controversy involving a teammate of Cinder. Was it intentional?"

Neo seemed to be hesitant. After a moment, she nodded. She then produced a note and handed it to her. "Sow distrust. Not specifically because it was Yang, but in Beacon in general," the note read.

"Why sow distrust in Beacon?" Sun asked.

Neo heaved a silent sigh and after looking around nervously she produced a new note, "Cinder has friends in powerful places. Friends who want Beacon and Vale to go away. Roman Torchwick and I were employed with a promise of surviving whatever is coming next," the notes read.

Aqua gasped when she realized just what this note meant. "So, you and Roman were talented enough criminals, that they are holding your lives in exchange for your service," Aqua explained out loud more to herself. She looked at Neo and said, "What if you got help from someone else? Could you escape and leave this behind?"

Neo shook her head and offered a new note. "Not from Cinder's friend. Why do you care? We are on opposite sides," the new note read.

"You may be a criminal, but you are still a person. Some people just do bad things for the sake of doing bad things. Others do bad things for survival. But darkness has not taken you, Neo. You are no enemy of mine," Aqua answered. The change of the color of Neo's eyes was a captivating moment for Aqua as they changed from heterochromia pair of pink and brown to matching white. From what Aqua could tell, Neo had no idea how to respond to such a remark.

"Last question, how did they get Yang to lash out?" Aqua asked hoping to help her move along. Neo suddenly seemed to transform before her and Sun's eyes. When she was done, she looked like Emerald. "A semblance?" Aqua clarified. Neo nodded and then the illusion shattered, returning her to her normal form. Another note was produced for Aqua.

"I wish that we had gotten to know each other under different circumstances, Aqua. Stay safe. Beware tonight," it read. Aqua knew that when she looked up, Neo would be gone.

"Are you sure we should be letting her go?" Sun asked.

Aqua nodded. "She doesn't have a choice," she replied. "I can't hunt after someone like that. We should get going, try to get this information to someone who can use it."

* * *

Dante found himself at the arena with Sora trying to ask anyone he could about that team. It seemed that nobody was sure about them. As far as Dante could tell, they did not exist before they showed up in Vale. Making his way through the arena Dante looked around trying to find anyone from that school. At one point, he caught sight of a familiar shade of green hair and he tried to follow it, but the crowd was difficult to get through with his stature, even at this age. He took out his scroll and dialed a shared conversation with the rest of Team SWRD.

"Dante? What's up?" Rise asked.

"Hello?" Sora asked uncertain if he successfully answered.

Aqua said, "You are connected Sora. What is going on Dante?"

Dante tried to get another look at the green hair as he answered, "I think I may have saw Emerald here at the stadium. Have you guys found any information, yet?"

"No one in our school has gotten to know them," Rise said sadly. "As far as anyone knows, they are just a really talented group of visitors that keep to themselves."

"Weren't they supposed to be headed back to Mistral for Mercury's injuries?" Sora asked.

Aqua added, "There is something going on. More than we know. I got back into touch with Neo. Cinder's goal is to bring about the fall of Beacon. Emerald has the ability to make people see things. If that is Emerald, then they are not done messing with people's minds. Neo says something is going down tonight and told me to be careful. Dante, you need to try to run interference if you can. Whatever is going to happen tonight has even Neo nervous."

"You got it, once the next round starts I will make my move to get Emerald out of the area," Dante answered. "No use in trying to make a scene now."

"Rise, you and I need to start heading towards the coliseum. If something does happen, we should be there to help," Aqua added.

Rise hummed in affirmation and said, "Already on my way, should be there before the next one-on-one fight begins."

"Good, see you there," Aqua added as she disconnected from the call. Rise and Sora followed suit.

With that all said, Dante made his way in the direction he had seen Emerald going. His steps deliberate but his pace was relaxed. The next round would be starting soon and he would have the opportunity to remove her from the arena with a minimal amount of interference. At least that was the plan until he noticed a familiar blue coat. Dante only caught it out of the corner of his eye at first but then soon after he saw him, "Vergil?" Dante said out loud.

"Brother," Vergil replied. "You still don't know when you have been outplayed. You cannot save these people. Leave before something ends your life prior to my blade."

Dante turned to watch Vergil leave. "That's the difference between you and me Vergil. You have always taken the easy route. Ironically, it has made you softer than me. I will save this world," Dante replied defiantly.

"Then you will die, Dante," Vergil replied before vanishing into the crowd. Dante watched the position he had last seen his twin when something caught his ear.

"Alright, it's now time to begin the randomization process for our next fight!" Announced Oobleck over the loudspeaker. Dante picked up his pace as he needed to find Emerald, he walked out into the stands and started tracing the seats with his eyes.

Port then added, "It looks like our first contender is... Penny Polendina, from Atlas! And her opponent will be... Pyrrha Nikos, from Beacon!" Dante remembered Aqua's words from before, about the fall of Beacon. Suddenly a lot of things were beginning to make sense. Yang was a winner from Beacon, so she had to be one of the people who fought Mercury. Pyrrha however was far too disciplined as a fighter, her natural instinct would not be to attack first back but rather to defend. Which meant there had to be a reason that this fight was happening tonight for the exact same reasons as before. Pyrrha was selected for this fight for a reason, as was her opponent. He needed to find Emerald before anything got out of hand.

Meanwhile the fight in the arena began and was fairly intense. Anyone watching who had paid any attention before would see that this was not Pyrrha's best performance this festival. However, despite this fact neither fighter seemed to have the advantage. Dante finally caught sight of Emerald and began making his way over to her at a brisk pace. During his approach, he became aware of a strange lull in the combat happening in the arena. Looking over he saw Penny, arms outstretched with her blades above her, Pyrrha looked terrified. After what happened the night before, Dante was currently unarmed but he made his way into a sprint towards Emerald. By the time he was within leaping distance of her, there was a sudden wave of shock through the audience. Dante turned and to his dismay, the scene was worse than he had been ready for, because Penny lay in four pieces on the arena floor, no blood only mechanics.

The screens turned red and the damnable chess icon showed up as a voice began playing. Dante turned back to find Emerald but she was gone now. He ran up the stairs to try and figure where she went and the voice playing, taunted him the whole way.

"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference," the voice said.

Rise reached behind her back and grasped the microphone attached to the belt under her jacket. She had been ready to sneak her weapon into the arena if needed. She had hoped it would have never been needed in the first place.

"And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching _his_ students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither. Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people forget his _colossal_ failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves," the voice continued. Aqua listened to the words with gritted teeth as she was coming to terms with what she was hearing. "As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is... equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of war, yet _we_ , the citizens, are left in the dark."

Sora felt his weapon hidden under his sleeve and was itching to draw it as he listened to the speech, he mumbled to himself, "This can't be real."

"So I ask you: When the first shots are fired... who do you think you can trust?"

After the last question, the speech was over and then all hell broke loose. An alarm, the announcement of caution reporting a level 9 Grimm attack and to seek shelter in a calm and orderly fashion. People began to panic and this panic began a massive chaotic evacuation of the stands. If things were not bad enough, a giant nevermore landed on the shield.

Dante was running in a dead sprint after the form of Emerald in front of him. People were starting to filter into the walkway that Dante was beginning to lose her in the crowd again. He leapt up and kicked off the wall. Launching himself forward using his semblance he lashed out at her with his hand, but as she slid under his swing, he found himself bouncing off the side of the coliseum. He whipped out his Scroll and called his locker. Looking down below him, he saw the school under attack and as his locker fell, he grabbed onto it. Prying the door open, he grabbed his sword and began firing downward to slow his downward descent. Landing on a Griffin Grimm, he dug his weapon into its back and forced it to land on the ground.

* * *

Sora watched the giant Nevermore bang its beak on the shield. Looking down he saw Pyrrha there and a small twinge of rage filled him. He felt the blade slide out from his sleeve and jumped into the ring as the ceiling broke open. As the bird landed, he felt himself become launched back from a massive wave of wind. Jaune and Pyrrha landed nearby.

As the giant bird approached the downtrodden Pyrrha, a blur of red suddenly launched itself into the bird. Ruby landed, wielding one of Penny's weapons. "Leave her alone!" Ruby yelled. Sora could see the anger and sadness on her face. He dragged himself back onto his feet and stood beside her. The two of them watched the monster approach and suddenly, lockers fell from the sky. The other students who had stayed in place began approaching to grab their weapons. They were now a united force.

* * *

Rise felt herself being knocked around by panicking masses. However a renewed sign of panic behind her caused her to turn around and see a terrifying sight. Innocent civilians and students being cut down or battered by a veritable giant in a jade green, dirtied suit of armor. His giant blade burned with bright blue fire. Rise, knowing she was basically the only person who was armed, drew her weapon and charged the figure, blocking a swing barely holding back the attack away from the people around her.

"Run!" Rise yelled to them, she dodged around followup swings. Trying to find a way to hurt this fighter was nearly impossible due to his ability to swing this blade with nearly no effort. A sudden fireball lashed forward and trying to block the blast, Rise felt herself become knocked back through the air. Rolling back over onto her feet she just needed to buy time for the people around her to escape.

Rise found herself on the losing side of another battle. She could not seem to do any damage to the armored figure. As far as she could tell, the figure was not human. Dodging under another swing, she found herself next to an injured student. The figure came forward to swing down upon the two of them and Rise braced her weapon her hands as she blocked the attack. The enemies weapon erupted into flames again. She felt the heat as it radiated out across her whole body. The flame seemed to begin to spread across her weapon and as it touched her it just tore through her stores of Aura. Suddenly, the pain in her hands flared up as the Aura became weaker and weaker. Soon the fire consumed her hands and she screamed out in pain as it intensified.

A large blasting sound, resonated through the coliseum as the figure was knocked away from her. She cried out further even as the flames died down. Her hands were blistered and missing massive portions of skin. She tried to focus through the pain as she saw her savior in the form of Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck.

"Stranger, I am going to have to ask you to leave my student alone," Port announced as he approached with his weapon aimed. As the shock of pain began to consume her mind, her breathing became uneven, her whimpers continued pathetically.

Professor Oobleck zipped over and lifted Rise off the ground. "Miss Rivers, I will protect you with my life. Just please hold on for us," Professor Oobleck whispered to her. He nodded to Port who turned his full attention to armored figure.

* * *

Aqua had been helping evacuate people when she heard the scream. Looking around, she made eye contact with General Ironwood and he nodded for her to go, he would take care of things here. Sun ran after her with his staff in hand. She dodged people and tried her best to avoid crashing into them. Sun on the other hand felt no qualms about leaping onto and off of them to get over the crowd. Both approaches got them to the far side around the same time. They began sprinting around the bend and saw Professor Port fighting a large monster of a man and Oobleck firing supporting shot while holding Rise. Aqua got to her side and saw the damage to her hands. Aqua gasped and tried to get her emotions under control, but the stress and frustration boiling beneath her skin was beginning over come her.

"Doctor, get her to the evacuation ship so she can be treated, Sun and I will help out here," Aqua commanded. Doctor Oobleck nodded and took off at top speeds being careful with the girl as to not shake her up too much.

"Who could hurt someone like that?" Sun said angrily. The two of them turned to the armored figure and it was time to throwdown. Aqua ran forward with her weapon ready and leapt past Professor Port. Her blade embedded itself into the armor of her opponent. Sun slid low and planted his staff into the giant fighters knee forcing him to a kneeling position.

"Who are you?" Aqua demanded. The figure looked at her and when their eyes met, Aqua suddenly felt like she was in danger. Hand springing backwards, the being teleported forward in a ball of blue flame. He reappeared behind her and stabbed forward at Aqua. Professor Port however caught the attack with his axe.

"Identify yourself stranger," Port reiterated.

A giant swing of the blade forced Port backwards and a second attempt at lunging his blade forward. The blade was stopped again as Aqua created a barrier to prevent the attack. Sun's staff unlatched into two sets of nunchaku and he began swinging them around skillfully, The armored figure could not keep up with his barrage, especially when it began incorporating the shotguns. The blue flame flew off again this time away from the Coliseum and then seemed to disappear into the darkness.

Aqua shook her head as she slammed her fist into a wall. How could she let that monster get away? How could she let Rise down? Her thoughts were interrupted by Sun yelling about something.

"Aqua, we got company!" Sun shouted pointing out to the sky. Aqua looked up and saw that two of the airships were crashing from the sky, having been shot down by the third one.

Watching the two ships falling, only one word came to mind. "Neo," Aqua whispered. This was what she was being forced to do. "Sun, let's go find a ship down to the school and find out how we can help." The two of them ran off to the evacuation ships.

* * *

Sora worked with the other students to slay the giant Nevermore. As the bird's head was removed, he looked around the students to see a bunch of hardened warriors. Pyrrha however was still knelt on the ground staring at the shred of cloth. She looked up at Ruby with tears in her eyes and Sora knew why. Ruby had talked about Penny. She wanted to get the chance to introduce Sora to her.

"Ruby, I am so sorry," Pyrrha said trying to hold herself together.

Ruby looked sad and said, "Me too. But it wasn't your fault."

"She's right. Whoever was on that microphone... they're the ones that did this. And we have to make sure they don't take anyone else," Jaune said handing Pyrrha her weapons.

Sora walked over to them, "So what now?"

"Sora, I need your scroll," Ruby said. He took his scroll out and handed it to her. She put some inputs into it and a locker fell from the sky. She passed the device back to him and made her way to her locker. When a Griffon landed on it a blast of flame scared the Grimm off.

"Students, please make your way from this place, I and Professor Port will be securing this area," Oobleck announced.

Ruby began to protest, "But we can fight-"

"Ms. Rose," Doctor Oobleck interrupted. "This day will surely go down in Remnant's history. I'd prefer it if my students could live to tell about it."

"Let's go!" Ruby yelled. The students all made their way out to the outer pathways with Sora follow up behind them. As he walked, his scroll began to vibrate.

Dante's voice was the first to speak, "Sora, Aqua. Rise? Did she not pick up?"

"Rise has been hurt. She was attacked by some kind of monstrous man in strange suit of armor and sword he could light on blue fire," Aqua said through puffs of breath against the microphone of her scroll.

"What?! Damn it, we have another problem down in the city. Heartless have shown up. The Organization is trying to throw this world into darkness. We need to do something about this! Oh son of a-" Dante said but was cutoff by sounds of effort suddenly played over the earpiece as he was engaged in combat.

"I am heading down now," Aqua announced.

Sora nodded and added, "I will be there soon. Just gotta get off the Coliseum now."

As Sora picked up the pace, Ruby was suddenly running back in the other direction, "Ruby! Where are you going?"

"I have an idea! You wanna come with?" Ruby asked somewhat panicked.

Sora exhaled a deep breath and said under his breath, "Sorry guys, might take me a little longer than I thought." He followed her and by the time he caught up, she was tapping buttons on the locker in front of her. She rested her scythe on the top and looked back at him. Sora realized what she was doing and as the locker began to launch, he lashed his blade forward and wrapped it around the locker getting dragged back behind it. Doing his best to not be lit up by the flame propelling the locker forward, he saw what her goal was and prepared himself for a dismount.

Ruby leapt off her locker and as Sora untangled his blade from the locker, he was blindsided by a Grimm with an Air Soldier riding on its back. Luckily, he was being protected by his Aura, but he was now being carried off by the Griffin Grimm. Slashing at the beast, he got it to let him go. As he fell, he realized that he was no longer over the airship. Luckily, he landed on a nearby enemy. Attempting to make his way back to the airship was not going in his favor as he had no real way of controlling the things he landed on. Looking up at the ship, he saw that things were not going well for her as she had three people on the ship against her. The three toned girl that he had to assume was Neo, the orange haired one in the bowler cap he recognized as Roman Torchwick from the news, and an Organization Member hood up. Sora found himself ending up further and further away. Ruby was suddenly hanging off the edge of the airship.

Sora closed his eyes and begged out loud, "Please, let me break the rules this one time."

* * *

Dante down on the ground at the school found himself reunited with the other students fighting what felt like everything on Remnant. White Fang, Atlas Robots, Grimm, and now the Heartless. The new enemy was just another enemy to the people around him once they saw they could be defeated like anything else could. At least that was what he thought, until he saw a giant Heartless entity. He had no idea what it was called, but it was segmented into several purple, multi-plated, metal pieces. Hands, feet, a body, and a head. Each one seemed to act independently, but in perfect unison with the others.

"What is that?!" Neptune complained out loud.

Dante stepped forward and just called back, "I'll go find out. You guys hold down the fort."

"Wait, Dante!" Nora called out. "Ren and I will come with!"

"An enemy that great will be a terrible challenge for one student. We will join you," Ren reaffirmed. The three of them took off after the large Heartless. At their approach, a large foot lashed forward knocked Dante on his back, which he immediately popped back up onto his feet. Ren ran around the side firing shots into the main body piece. This was responded to with the hands leaving that body behind and spinning after him. Nora took this as her opportunity to leap in and slam her hammer into the main body.

Suddenly, the world began to shake violently. A nearby mountain exploded sending rocks and other debris flying. Gargantuan wings extended from the place the mountain used to exist and with a mighty flap the largest dragon of a Grimm that anyone had ever seen took wing. Dante looked at the beast and just exclaimed, "Am I supposed to fight that too!?" His outrage over it was overlooked by his peers who watched the dragon fly through the sky. As drops of what appeared to be blood fell from it, when they landed they seemed to spawn more Grimm. The other students immediately returned to fighting as Dante's outrage began to bubble up and he was about to tear something apart. He needed to work off a building tension within. He felt the demon within for the first time in weeks and it was a great feeling.

"Sorry, Ozpin," Dante said popping open his collar as his temperature was rising at an alarming rate. "Time to break the rules!" Dante felt the energy explode out from his body, knocking the giant armored Heartless over. His body's entire form transformed into a plated body with rough looking edges, hair that hardened into jagged looking spikes. His core seemed to glow an electric blue. He turned and his transformation did not go unnoticed. "Go help the others," Dante commanded Ren and Nora. They presented no argument as he looked up at the enemy. "Come on!"

Guard Armor swung its fist at Dante and its hollow inside reverberated from the impact. Any students that were distracted by it would find Dante in his demonic form having blocked the massive attack with his arm alone. "Is that all you got you dumb suit of armor?" Dante leapt up and planted his fist into the Heartless's head and embedded it down into the top of the body piece. The being faded and Dante turned back to his normal form shaking his hand. Feeling revitalized after the fall, he drew his sword and started heading back towards the other student when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

* * *

Sora focused as hard as he could and then felt it. The airstep allowed him to jump forward from enemy to enemy until he launched his way through the air, as he flew he overheard Roman say, "You're asking the wrong questions, Red. It's not what I have to gain, it's that I can't afford to lose! I may be a gambling man, but even I know that there are some bets you just don't take!"

Sora flew past Neo and Torchwick, swing his circled up blade into the cloaked figure. As he slammed into them at top speed, the hood fell back to reveal young Xehanort. Sora's momentum was too great though, both of them fell off the far side of the wing.

The young Xehanort launched himself away and with confident, wild smile, disappeared into a Corridor of Darkness. Sora bounced off of a Grimm and stabbed his blade into the wing of the ship. Lifting himself up onto the wing, Sora saw the scene develop before him. Roman stood over Ruby, ranting about his allegiances while Neo approached with her blade out and ready.

"You can't stop them! I can't stop them! You know the old saying. If you can't beat 'em-" Roman ranted. Ruby then reached up to Neo's weapon and forced it to open, the wind caught underneath and dragged her off the wing of the ship. Sora struggled to try and climb up the wing so he could help. "NEO!" Roman called out to his now falling companion.

Ruby made her way onto the wing. As she steadied her feet beneath her she replied, "I don't care what you say! We will stop them and I will stop you! BET ON THAT!"

Sora watched Ruby activate her semblance and charged Roman, alternating her approach to throw him off. Roman fired his bullet and caught it with the crook of the cane and redirected it in her new position. "You got spirit, Red! But this is the REAL world!" Roman yelled as he swung the cane and knocked her back. Sora continued to struggle to get his feet up onto the wing of the ship against the wind. "The real world is cold!" He hit her again. "The real world doesn't care about spirit!" Ruby kicked him in the knee avoiding another attack. "You wanna be a hero!? Then play the part and die like every other Huntsman in history!" He hit her again and Sora dug deep pulling himself up against the wind. "As for me, I'll do what I do best: lie, steal, cheat, and SURVIVE!" Sora got a foot on the edge and he launched himself forward weapon drawn back. As he approached, so did a Griffon. The Griffon lunged forward, mouth agape at the form of Roman readying another attack on Ruby. Time slowed for Sora as he saw a Corridor of Darkness appear and Roman pulled clear of danger. Sora's weapon collided with the Grimm instead and Ruby leapt over it and kicked it down into the ship. The two of them felt the airship begin to dip down. Ruby ran for her weapon and Sora followed her. Within a veritable storm of Grimm, the two of them fell through the air. She used the recoil to slow her decent, Sora slammed down into Grimm and used them as a means of finding his way to the ground without difficulty.

* * *

Dante watched the object drift down on an umbrella and the color pallette gave her away. That was Neo and she was landing near the Cafeteria. There was a fight he wanted to settle. Dante ran in the direction of the girl and when he arrived he saw her getting back up onto her feet and looking panicked as she stared up at a now crashing ship.

"Neo," Dante called out. She looked and her eyes narrowed at him. "Look, Aqua seemed to trust you. But here you are, attacking the world. I'm not sure how you convinced her, but now you're dealing with me." Dante drew his blade and charged forward. Neo drew her blade from the umbrella and braced herself for the attack. She bounced the swings away with her umbrella and lashed forward with her knife eating up some of his Aura. He ducked under another swing and planted his fist into her abdomen. She bounced back and recovered with a flip back onto her feet.

"What? No explanation for yourself?" Dante challenged. Neo looked away, he was almost sure he could see some kind of shame. With a flip of his blade, Dante fired his gun backwards and launched himself toward her. He lunged the blade at her, her form shattered. In her place was a note.

"I didn't have a choice," it read. Dante whipped around and saw her again.

Dante shook his head and said, "You always have a choice. Sure, sometimes you feel like your back is up against a wall. But you have to be willing to do the right thing! If you do the wrong thing because it is easy, you are no better than whatever force you're scared of." Neo looked away again, face covered in shame.

She produced a note and held it out. Dante walked over and took it from her. Looking at it, it read, "Maybe I am that bad then. Aqua said that she did not attack me because 'darkness had not taken me.' If that means anything to you."

Dante's expression softened. Aqua truly saw her a woman without options. "Go," Dante commanded quietly. "Save yourself." Neo seemed to vanish into a spark of light. Waiting there a moment, he prepared himself to head back to the students when he heard a shriek of pain. Dante realized that it came from inside the cafeteria. He ran around the corner and through the door and the sight before him sent his battle instinct into overdrive.

"Get away from her!" Yang commanded fiercely.

Dante leapt forward, in his rush he almost missed Blake reaching her hand out to Yang as if to stop her. Yang screamed as she was engulfed in flame. The strange man in the mask turned and struck a pose Dante was all to familiar with. Sword raised in his direction, bare arm raised in her direction, Dante landed in the middle of the clash. He felt Yang's gauntlet clash against his left arm and its subsequent fired blast from the punch. Dante watched the katana lash forward through the air and as it collided with Monochrome Rebellion, it dug into the metal and began to pass through it. It was an unexpected development, Dante attempted to lean away from the swing that split his blade, however the speed of the swing caught him across the face, tearing through what was left of his Aura. The blade dug into face, the deepest part of the cut being through the bridge of his nose. The slash crossed over his eyebrow and the blood immediately blinded his left eye. The sheer speed of the swing, knocked him off balance as he landed on the ground, wounded. Yang was stuck in the moment, as the top half of Dante's blade clattered across the ground.

Dante groped about the ground for a moment as he regained his footing. He held his now, broken blade towards Adam. Yang remembered herself and struck her battle ready pose again. Adam looked between the two of them as he decided to make a tactical retreat. Dante exhaled heavily and dropped his broken sword, trying to ignore the pain.

"Yang, I am half blind and unarmed, Blake is fully stabbed and partially armed. You need to get us out of here, ok?" Dante asked Yang. She nodded, not sure what else to say. As Dante helped Blake to her feet, he started leading her to the exit. Yang hesitated a moment, playing what had just happened through her mind again as she picked up the broken blade by the handle and followed after them. Dante supported Blake's weight, however his hair was now getting cake to his face from the blood and his vision was blurred or just completely obscured. "Blake, I am going to need you to be my eyes," Dante said as he was losing sight of his path ahead of him.

"Alright, I'll guide you," Blake replied. Between the two of them, they were able to follow Yang to the air dock in front of the school. As they approached it, Dante felt Blake's leg give out from underneath her and he caught her. "Sorry, I am just having a little difficulty."

Dante swept her legs up in his other arm and he said, "Just get us to the dock." The two of them worked together over the last fifty or so feet when they head two voices.

"Dante!" Aqua called out.

"Blake!" Sun exclaimed at the same time.

Sun took Blake from the blinded Dante and carefully laid her on the ground. Aqua placed her hands on Dante's shoulders as he dropped to his knees and lowered him to a lying position. Blake reached out and grabbed Dante's hand with tears in her eyes. "I am so sorry, Dante. I am so sorry," Blake squeaked out. Dante turned his face towards her and tried to smile but with the blood on his face, he settled for nodding.

* * *

Ruby and Sora ran across the school and found themselves at the air dock shortly after, the arrival of Dante and Blake. Weiss and Yang ran over to them. "Ruby, where have you been? Are you ok?" Yang asked her younger sister.

"I'm fine," Ruby said. "How is everyone?"

Dante raised his free hand with a thumbs up. Weiss rolled her eyes as she looked back at Ruby, "People are going to be fine, I think. They have set up a medical camp down in Vale to take care of the injured while we wait for evacuation. But um," Weiss trailed off.

"Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing," Nora complained as she and Ren approached. "They ran off at one point to help Professor Ozpin, but they have not come back."

Sun then added, "And that freaky Grimm keep circling the school and luring more Grimm to it. We've got to get out of here."

Ren shook his head as he struggled to stand straight, "We're not leaving."

Sora nodded and he turned from the group and headed back towards the central tower. "I'll find them, take care of my team for me," he called back.

Ruby ran forward, grabbed his shoulder and said, "We'll find them. We'll be back!" The two of them took off.

"You better be!" Sun called out. "Idiots." He turned his attention back to Blake. Sora and Ruby made their way through swathes of Grimm and Heartless. The two of them dashed through the hordes looking about wildly for their friends. Sora's scroll started to buzz and he slowed to a stop.

"Jaune? Where are you?" Sora asked.

"Please, don't worry about me. Pyrrha she went after the woman at the top of the tower. You have to save her! She doesn't stand a chance!" Jaune shouted through the receiver.

"Jaune where are you?" Ruby asked.

Jaune screamed as he threw the device. "Please, you have to save Pyrrha," he whispered before the line went dead.

"Jaune?" Sora asked. He and Ruby looked at each other and then to the top of the tower where they saw some crazy amount of fire and metal flying about.

Ruby said, "I have an idea."

"You want to learn how to flowmotion?" Sora asked. Ruby nodded.

"Let's do it," Sora said as they both took off towards the tower. He put his hand on her shoulder and she felt the energy surge through her. "Just focus on the wall when you jump to it and you'll stick to it." They both flew through the air and she even burst into petals, landing on the wall first. She took off up the side of the wall ahead of Sora. Sora looked up and in a flash of energy he saw a familiar blue coat. In a moment, he was back on the roof in Dante's world seeing Kairi being stabbed. He leapt forward as Vergil fell from above hand on his katana.

Vergil looked directly at Sora as he said, "Consider this to be point two in my favor." Ruby attempted to dodged to the side as Vergil's blade lashed out and then was sheathed again. At first it seemed like he missed. But when Sora saw Ruby begin to lean to one side he knew that nothing could be further from the truth.

Sora dashed up the wall and let the chain blade fling forward, but Vergil quickly disappeared into a Dark Corridor. Sora retracted the blade and when he looked back to Ruby, he saw the pain in her eyes begin to turn to shock. He grabbed ahold of her outstretched hand and wrapped her arms around his neck and continued to run. Sora tried to put the look on her face out of his mind as they made their way further up the tower.

"Hang onto me Ruby. We'll save her," Sora said to her as he struggled up the side of the tower. He could feel his semblance wearing away at his Aura levels. At this rate, he would be out of it by the time he got to the top. What could they even do once they got there? They crested the top of the tower as Sora felt his Aura fade. He looked up and in that moment, the arrow left Cinder's bow and imbedded itself into Pyrrha's chest. "N-no," Sora whispered between heavily breaths. Cinder walked over to the dying girl in front of her. Laying a hand on Pyrrha's crown, Cinder disintegrated the young warrior.

Ruby seemed to radiate heat as he breathing hitched. Suddenly, she began to exude a massive amount of light. "PYRRHA!" Sora covered his eyes and felt himself being pushed back by the massive amount of energy radiating off of Ruby. As the light cleared, he felt his strength finally begin to fail him and Sora fell backwards before his vision fully returned to him. He and Ruby were suddenly in free fall.

Sora spun himself around and wrapped his arms around Ruby as he angled himself between her and the ground beneath them. "Kid!" Sora heard a voice call out. He turned his head and saw Qrow Branwen on a platform halfway up the tower. Sora looked at the unconscious form of Ruby and with the last of his strength, he threw his arms forward to send her towards Qrow. Qrow caught her and the last thing Sora saw of him was the look on his face as he saw the damage that had been done to his niece. Sora rotated his body towards the tower and extended the blade from his sleeve. It hooked over at the end and he swung it into the outside wall of the tower. Dragging his blade down the outside of the tower he tried to slow his descent, but the blade suddenly shattered at the hinges and his fall continued uninhibited. Sora knew he only had one option left. He flipped his revolver into his hand set the dual barrel setting. He pointed it at the side of the tower as he leaned himself forward. Finally, he pulled the trigger and the blast of ice embedded itself into the wall and due to his closeness to the target, the ice encased itself over his hand and forearm.

The sudden stop was the worst pain Sora had ever felt as all of the force suddenly pulled on his shoulder and arm. The loud snap was only dwarfed by Sora's pained yelling. Hanging from his broken arm, Sora struggled to keep his consciousness as he tried to reach up to the ice. No amount of reaching would help as he finally lost his grip on reality and everything faded to black.


	21. The Aftershock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: So here is the aftermath. Time for me to reveal what I believe to be a fundamental truth about the job of the Keyblade Wielder. At the end of the chapter! See ya' down there! Enjoy!

Aqua found herself surrounded by three wounded allies in a medical tent. She was so busy going between the three of them, she had not been able to run interference on the departures of Blake and Weiss. Most of the students seemed to disappear across the world. Aqua finally found a moment to sit down and rest her feet in a tent with her three fallen allies. After a few moments, she heard stirring nearby.

"I didn't go permanently blind did I?" she heard Dante ask. She sat up and looked over at him as he was reaching up to touch the bandages wrapped around his head over his eyes.

"Dante, stop. You need to be careful. The attack went all the way across your face. With the work they needed to do with no time or material, they have had to wrap around your entire head to apply enough pressure on your wound," Aqua explained grabbing his hand and pulling it away from his face.

Dante chuckled and joked, "Straight to the point, huh?"

Aqua realized what he was joking about and blushed, however she did not remove her hands. "Knock it off, Dante. I am trying to care for you, right now," she reprimanded. "The doctors will remove it for you when they are certain that it has sealed up enough to care for without the bandage."

"And of course, by Doctors, she means this doctor. How are you young man?" Doctor Oobleck announced as he entered the room.

Dante shrugged and said, "Well Doctor, my weapon is broken, I have a bandage of my eyes, I can't look at the beautiful girl next to me, and worst of all this stretcher's uncomfortable."

Aqua blushed a deeper shade of red and Oobleck gave a hearty laugh. "Please, call me Barty, you all have earned it after the effort you put forth on behalf of the school despite simply being visitors," Barty said as he complimented the two conscious members of the team.

"Thank you, Doctor… Barty," Aqua said with uncertainty. "How are things going out there with the school? I have been cooped up in here since the night we escaped."

"Well, the large Grimm on the top of the school is frozen there. It is still attracting Grimm to the school. We are trying to rebuild the town, but it is difficult with little sleep and constant Grimm presence here. We are still trying though, but as Port would probably say right now, 'Mistral wasn't built in a day.' Personally, I would just say that Mistral could have been built in a day if we had all the blueprints, no Grimm, and enough people working on it the full day," Barty explained. "Well, logically, I mean."

Dante nodded and stifled a yawn, "I see. Well, I don't actually. But, it is good to hear that rebuilding is happening."

"Yes, yes it is," Barty said. "I will leave you all to rest. You too, Aqua."

"Thank you," Aqua said. Barty zipped out of the room.

Dante turned to her direction and asked, "How is Rise?"

He heard Aqua sniff as she leaned over on him. Aqua then said, "She cries every second she's awake. They have her medically put under most of them time just trying to give her Aura enough time to repair all the damage it can repair. But not a day has gone by that I have not heard her cries and tried to calm her. I don't know how to help her."

"And Sora?" Dante asked.

"His arm is broken, his body is torn up. He put himself through hell for Ruby," Aqua answered. "According to Qrow, Sora was ready to sacrifice his body to protect her the whole way down the tower."

"Damn," Dante commented. "Wait, why did he have to protect her?" Aqua was silent for a moment. Dante's tone dropped as he then asked, "Aqua, what happened?"

"From a brief moment of consciousness, Sora let me know that Vergil attacked her. Saying that this was going to be 'another point' in his favor," Aqua explained.

Dante stayed quiet for a moment. "Great, both versions of my brother are running around now. Damn it, Xehanort," Dante cursed.

"Both versions?" Aqua asked.

Dante nodded and explained, "The figure you and Rise fought against, his name is Nelo Angelo. I met him in a place called Mallet Island. He worked for a devil named Mundus. The devil my Father betrayed. When I left Vergil in hell, Mundus found him and corrupted him into the shell of a demon you met. Interestingly enough, he had more guts and honor in the face of worthy challenge when he was turned hollow."

"Well, I pity the girl who ends up dealing with that headache of a family. Two sets of twins and a brother shared between the two of them," Aqua joked for him.

Dante chuckled. "How nice of you to assume that I am ever going to have a girl to worry about that," he commented. "I am not going to force my family's cursed existence on some kid I may have to leave behind when I undoubtedly have to seal myself in hell to protect my world," Dante explained. The two fell quiet for a moment. Dante then asked, "Any sign of the Organization since the attack?"

"No," Aqua remarked. "It seems that they learned whatever it was they were wanting to know and left. What I can't figure out is why they are showing up at these places at all."

Dante hummed in thought as he finally commented, "The night we first saw my brother he made a comment just before I jumped in but I didn't pay much attention to it. They seemed interested in the power of aura for some reason."

"Have they mentioned anything like that before?" Aqua asked, intrigued.

Sora, stirring on his stretcher answered, "Back in Rise's world, Xigbar had seemed interested in the power of bonds. If what Rise has told me is true, then that power is directly tied to their Personas."

"The battle between the power of bonds versus the power of solitude. I remember that. That was at the top of the tower. Something about the fight between Yu and Sho was particularly interesting to the Organization."

Sora, Aqua and Dante talked for awhile, until they all eventually fell asleep.

* * *

Team SWRD had wanted to head to Patch as soon as possible. But with no way to contact the Xiao Long/Rose family due to the fall of the CTT in Vale, they could not find a means to reach out and check on the family whose lives had been permanently changed thanks to their involvement. So they waited. Days turned into weeks which turned to two-and-a-half months just before the coming winter. Dante finally received a handwritten letter from Yang asking for them to all head out to their home. Sora's arm was no longer in a cast but he was still in a sling. Dante's face was adorned with a scar that went from under his right eye across the bridge of his nose and up above his other eye. Rise's hands were still covered in bandages as she was not a fan of her new burn scars. Aqua had deep circles under her eyes as she had been staying up countless hours trying to help and support each of her injured allies.

The trip via boat was a different experience for Dante, Rise, and Aqua who had otherwise been traveling via airship the entire time they had been on Remnant. Rise was the closest to being herself that she had been since the attack on Amity Coliseum. Her bright and bubbly personality on display, as she moved around the ship to look at the world of Remnant on display to her. She may have even flirted with a lead of the ship's mess hall to get some food for the Team. She would not admit it if she did.

"Rise, it is good to see you in such high spirits today," Aqua said with a smile.

Rise nodded and said, "Nora and Yang taught me that if I am going to be life of the party, I have to do my part to keep you guys in high spirits. If I let my spirits drop, it will affect you too. So I am going to continue pulling weight for you guys."

Dante nodded. "Smart women, those two. I'm glad to see you smiling again," Dante said with a tired nod. He had been very subdued since his injury. He had yet to try replacing his weapon since the whole team had been inactive since the attack. Dante had also been self-elected to listen to the news while they were out of the game to keep up on the state of the world around them.

Sora's gaze was locked on the horizon as the island of Patch was coming upon them. He played with his sleeve as his mind wandered back to that night. His allies could tell that he was punishing himself for what happened, even though he refused to talk about it. The team grew quiet again as they departed the ship onto the island. They followed Sora who had been there before and soon they found themselves out in the forest and walking down a long road to the small house that was the goal of this trip.

As they arrived at the house in Patch, Dante reached out and hesitated before he knocked. He looked over at the others and they all seemed hesitant as well. Dante's guilt over his brother, Sora's shame for being unable to protect Ruby, Rise's inability to hold her own in an important fight, and Aqua's inaction when Blake ran away and Weiss was taken away by her father. Finally, Dante reached out and knocked on the door.

A loud thud was the initial response before the door suddenly flew open and the four guests were surprised by the appearance of an excited Ruby with petals falling around. Sora's eyes were immediately drawn to a red-painted mechanical prosthetic leg that had replaced the bottom half of her right leg. He felt the tears sting the back of his eyes.

"You came!" Ruby exclaimed. "I had Yang wait to send the letter until I had this walking thing figured out again. Yang, they're he-!" Ruby's voice was cut off with a squeak as her fake leg slipped on the wood floor and resulted in her face planting on the ground.

Yang walked down the stairs and she stopped in her tracks when she saw Dante's face. Dante looked over at her and the moment they met eye contact, Yang looked away. She remembered herself and rushed over to Ruby's side helping back her feet. Rise noticed how practiced and careful the motions seemed to be like a tender choreography, like Yang had been there with her every step of the way and they were running through the motions. It touched her heart and made her emotional.

Walking in from another room was Qrow and Taiyang. "Sora, come on in. Bring your friends if you feel like it," Tai joked as Yang and Ruby got out of the way. Ruby sat down on the couch with Yang and Qrow.

Taiyang however, flagged Dante down and signaled him to come over. Dante walked over and followed Taiyang into the kitchen. "Hey, your name is Dante Redgrave, right? Yang told me about what you did for her in the cafeteria against that White Fang guy. She could have been seriously hurt or even killed by a guy who can cut a weapon in half. Thank you, for protecting my Sunny Little Dragon. Having her here to help Ruby has been unbelievable and I can only know that she was here for certain because of you."

Dante nodded and replied, "Anyone would have if they found themselves in my position. You have a couple of fantastic daughters."

Tai said, "Maybe anyone would have. But it doesn't change the fact that you did it. And you only got a wicked scar as a complementary prize, too. I wanted to give you something in thanks." Tai walked into another room and came back with a box. He handed it to Dante. Dante opened it and was surprised to find a pair bladed gauntlets inside. "They are based on the same design as Yang's gauntlets. Both the girls helped me with the design. It isn't a giant two-handed blade, but from what Yang tells me, you likely don't need it. Gives you a 'punch' of new options though."

Dante chuckled and replied, "Well now I know where Yang gets it from."

Back in the main room, Sora sat down in the love seat as he minded his sling. Qrow looked over at him and asked, "So how's the arm feelin', kid?"

"It still hurts a bit," Sora admitted. "But It is nothing I care to complain about." His gaze flashed towards Ruby's leg.

"I bet it does, I have never seen someone break their arm like that," Qrow said throwing back a quick swig from his flask. "Seeing something like that is enough to make a guy drink. You want some?" He held the flask out to Sora who just shook his head.

Ruby whispered something Yang who passed it along to Qrow. Yang and Qrow both stood up and each one seemed to call Rise and Aqua's attention away from the room for one reason or another. "Sora, you don't need to pretend like you're not hurting just because I am also hurting," Ruby told him.

Sora shook his head and replied, "It isn't that, Ruby. I failed to protect you from Vergil. I failed again."

Ruby got up and made her way over to Sora and sat down next to him. She put a hand on his still good shoulder and said, "Sora, if you were at fault then my Uncle Qrow would have never allowed me to bring you back here. You did nothing wrong. In fact, it's because of you that I am even here and only missing one leg. Please don't beat yourself up over this. Please."

"I'm sorry," Sora said back. Ruby carefully hugged him and he hugged her back.

"So, how do I go with you?" Ruby asked casually. Sora looked at her somewhat incredulously. "What? I'm serious!" Ruby declared and laughed.

"But your leg…"

"Is dealt with."

"What about being a Huntress?"

"There are more monsters out there than just Grimm."

"But your nightmares?"

"Only went south when I ran away from the problem."

"But-"

"Sora. Please." Ruby said grabbing his good hand. "I want to go with you and help you save the worlds." Sora was unsure of how to answer at that point so he settled for thinking.

Across the house, Rise and Yang ended up going over into the kitchen to watch Dante put on the blade gauntlets. He double checked that they were unloaded and he gave them some practice swings. Yang watched and then said, "Hey Rise, want to watch me beat Dante in a fist fight? 'Xiao Long' do you think it'll take me to get him to give up?"

Rise giggled and answered, "I don't know if you are up to it, Yang. I'm going to need you to walk the walk."

Dante turned to her, retracted the blades, and punched his fists together, "Didn't go well for you last time, Yang." The two of them stared at each other before Yang turned and signalled for him to follow. As Dante walked by he whispered to Rise, "Keep an eye on Sora. I'll be out front." She nodded and watched Dante leave.

Outside, Dante and Yang stood across from each other and the air between them was suddenly very still and awkward. Dante felt a small twitch of his eye brow as he got uncomfortable with the silence. "So, you want to fight or you want to talk?" Dante finally asked.

Yang's lilac eyes traced over the scar on Dante's face over and over as she replayed that night in at Beacon. Everytime she replayed the event, in equal measure she imagined the scene without his interference. She might have lost an arm or her life. Every time she played it in her head, the more it repeated. Once she got stuck in the cycle she could not pull herself back out of it. As soon as the first tear fell, Dante walked over to her and offered her his sleeve, as he still was not in the possession of a handkerchief.

Yang grabbed his jacket and pulled herself closer to him as the tears finally broke through. "Dante! I almost died…" she sobbed into his jacket. Dante put his arms around her. "If you hadn't- hadn't been there-" she continued.

Dante lightly shushed her and whispered to her, "Yang. I was there, that's all that matters, ok?" Her knees gave out from under her as she leaned into him. Dante could tell that she had been trapped in these thoughts since the event that was now being called the Fall of Beacon. He slowly kneeled down helping her to a more comfortable position.

"I see that mask and that blade in my dreams. I have watched you get hurt, watched you die, watched myself get hurt, and watched myself die over and over since then," Yang whimpered.

Dante stroked her hair as he replied, "You are going to be fine, Blondie. You are safe at home, you'll bounce back." All of this comforting stuff was starting to become a little easier with time. "I'm fine, you're fine. It was a net win two-to-one, right?"

Yang's grip loosened as his words washed over her. "Dante, you aren't originally from Remnant. None of you are, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's right," Dante answered, clearly he could tell where this was going.

Yang thought about the time she had known them. The day they showed up in combat training, her fight with Rise, the fight with Team CRDL, and her thoughts stopped on her fight with Mercury. The whole controversy and the problems with the things she saw. "Take me with you," she finally said. "I need something to distract me. And if I went with you, I could still help people while I am getting better and-"

Dante looked at her and said, "You're thinking about the situation with that grey haired punk? I get it, reputation is important. But, this is a time investment. I don't know when I am going to be able to go home. Do you really want that?" Yang nodded. "Well, I can't promise you anything. But if you want it enough, then it'll happen."

He helped her back to her feet. "C'mon, let's go put butter on the bottom of Ruby's fake foot and watch her slide around," Dante suggested. Yang chuckled and then gave him a serious look.

Back inside the house, Qrow and Aqua were aimlessly wandering for nearly seven minutes when the man finally sighed and said, "I am going to be honest, I thought if I wandered long enough I would get an idea on how to make it seem like I pulled you away for a reason to let Ruby talk to Sora. Otherwise, I have something to share with all of you, if you would be willing to gather your team up and meet me on the balcony, I have some information to share with the whole lot of you."

Aqua nodded and walked around the house collecting her teammates and the four of them headed up to the balcony where Qrow was leaning on the rail looking at the forest. "Qrow, we're here."

"Listen, I have some things to say. Somethings that I know Ozpin has been hesitant to provide. Ozpin told me about the purpose of your visit here. Your goals that he learned about from Yen Sid. It didn't make a lot of sense to me, until I saw what happened here," Qrow commented.

Dante shook his head and said, "We failed."

"You did not," Qrow said as he turned around. "The problems we've suffered through, started before you showed up and likely would have resolved the same way without you. All you did, all you were supposed to do was protect the natural order of our world. It isn't fair to you for us to expect you to fix all of our problems. Ozpin, for all of his good points, has always tried to bend the rules of the world around him. He'd hoped that if you didn't find the Keyhole, you could stay here long enough to fix the problems we have now. He knew where the keyhole was this whole time. To maintain my loyalty to him, I won't tell you specifically where it is but I can give you a hint. Search for the memory of a rose." Qrow said and he quickly went inside.

"Ozpin, kept us here on purpose?" Rise asked with closed fists. "He kept us from doing our work, kept us away from our friends and our homes. He let us get hurt? Why?" The longer she ranted, the angrier Rise seemed to become.

Aqua reached out to Rise and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "It was wrong of him to do that, but let us focus on the information Qrow just gave us so we can finish this job and move on."

Sora added, "I know where it is."

"What?"

"Really?"

"How?"

Sora looked at his allies and said, "You remember when I came here just before the first round? I came out here to Patch. Ruby took me to a memorial for her mother. Summer Rose." The group nodded.

"So, where is it?" Dante asked.

"A little bit of a walk from here on the edge of the island. A cliff overlooking the ocean," Sora explained. "We'll have to head out tomorrow, it is a little too late to do it tonight."

The team was quiet as Rise continued to stew in her anger. Aqua slid down to her kneeling and sitting position. It was clear that the mood was low. Finally after a moment, Dante clapped his hands. His team looked at him and were surprised to see him standing up on the armrail of the balcony in a dramatic pose.

"You guys, we're here with Ruby and Yang. Let's pick up our spirits, go in there and be the friends they need us to be right now, alright?" he announced. He jumped down and helped Aqua to her feet, gave Rise a quick hair ruffle, and straightened out Sora's slouched over posture. "Just because Ozpin's an ass, doesn't mean we have to stop being the people we are. Which is awesome friends, stylish performers, and dedicated world savers. I saw the way those two looked at us when we got here, we were some of the coolest people in their eyes. Why don't we go find out why, and bask in that bond for a little while, huh?"

Rise nodded and let out a few deep breaths. She needed to calm down. So she bounced back and forth shaking her hands trying to get that extra aggression out of her system. Aqua opened the door and let Sora, Dante, and Rise back into the house.

Back down in the living room, Tai, Qrow, and Yang were all watching the news as Ruby seemed to be digging into a bag of cookies. "The Fall of the Beacon is all over the news all the time, even two-and-a-half months later," Tai commented. "Makes me so happy to have my girls home."

"Team SWRD shows up all over the news too," Yang commented as the aforementioned team entered the room. "You guys are celebrities you know that? The news practically romanticizes your efforts," she told them.

"Really?" Rise asked with her head tilted.

Dante suddenly had a look on his face. "Oh, right. They had been talking about us on the news broadcast a lot when discussing updates about the Fall," Dante recounted.

"And you didn't tell us?" Sora asked.

Dante shrugged his arms and said, "Can you blame me at this point? Last time I told you about reports on us, you didn't believe me."

"Well Aqua and Rise are being hailed as heroes of the Amity Coliseum thanks to their efforts," Qrow commented. "Helping evacuate the entire location and fighting a mysterious man cutting down civilians on your own volitions takes a lot of guts, especially from people visiting from outside of the school system. Dante's soft side making a stunning reveal to the world, covered in blood and carrying the weight of another wounded student. Not to mention, Sora's fall from the Beacon CCT. Throwing an injured girl to a handsome drunk. I may have let that story leak." Qrow chuckled.

"Oh jeez," Rise said with a smile. "Well looks like I end up famous wherever I go now." This got a chuckle out of Yang and Dante. Ruby got her face out of her bag of cookies and looked between the two of them sharing a joke she clearly missed.

Sora walked over to her and sat down next to her on the loveseat and quietly asked her, "Ruby, would it be possible for us to go to the memorial tomorrow? It is kind of important to our job here on Remnant." Ruby nodded. "Thanks."

With that, the whole household filled with a warm atmosphere and everyone could finally relax.

* * *

Team SWRD showed up with Ruby and Yang coming up upon the cliffside with the memorial. They started a little late and they showed up in the late afternoon. Sora walked over to the marble memorial and read the full inscription upon it.

"Summer Rose. Thus kindly I scatter," he read aloud.

Aqua but her hand in front of her heart and bowed her head. Rise struck the pose she normally did when she summoned her Persona as she paid her respects. Dante crouched down and laid a hand on the memorial as it reminded him of going to his own mother's grave. Sora held his hand out and focused on the Keyblade. "Ah, I still can't feel the keyblade. How am I supposed to finish this job without it? Stupid rules," Sora complained. Ruby and Yang walked over to join them at the memorial stone, they appreciated their respect for their mom, but curiosity had them focusing on the things they talked about.

"Hey, I broke the rules before, try again," Dante said as he stood up.

Aqua's cat ear perked up and she asked, "You broke the rules?"

Rise nodded and said, "So did I, back before the attack."

"I did too," Sora commented.

Aqua thought for a moment. "Y'know, I remember something that Ozpin said when we first got here. 'You may find that some of your abilities are not as far away from you as may be afraid of.' Maybe some rules are meant to be broken. I have yet to do it. Let me try," Aqua said out loud.

She and Sora swapped positions. Raising a hand forward, Aqua closed her eyes and focused on her hand. The images of Realm of Darkness played back through her mind once again and her breath hitched as her waking nightmares continued to haunt her. Suddenly, she felt Rise's arms wrap around her from behind.

"Aqua, you are safe. Focus on us," she whispered to her. Dante rested a hand on Aqua's shoulder and Sora placed his hand on her other shoulder.

Aqua's features softened and a small smile broke out on her face. Images of the people around her came to mind. The people she has befriended on Remnant. A light began to shine, emanating from her hand. The Master Keeper keyblade, the one she found in the Land of Departure at the end of her journey before she was stranded in the Realm of Darkness.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the keyhole respond on the surface of the memorial. As it appeared, the four of them began to see a ghostly image of a young woman in a white cloak. Sora looked from that image to the two girls who were staring at the keyblade. In his mind he began to hear a soft spoken voice.

"They cannot see me," it said. Turning away from the sunset, was a beautiful woman, who looked like Ruby with a certain level of grace that came with age. "Thank you for your concern though. I don't want to keep you all from your reason for being here. I can feel you all hurt. Please, stay strong," Summer said to them. She disappeared for a moment but in his mind, Sora heard her say one more thing. "Sora, you are the one my daughter is needing. Please take care of her for me."

Aqua's face turned to resolve as she waved her key through the air and pointed it at the memorial, a beam and a resounding locking noise released so much tension for the four of them that Rise began to cry.

"We did it! My first world solved!" she cheered while sobbing.

Aqua's keyblade disappeared as she turned towards Rise and embraced her. Dante laid his hand on her head softly to comfort her. Sora seemed to be lost in thought. The moment was broken by the sudden excited squealing of Ruby.

"What was that?! That was so cool! Was that a keyblade?! Tell me all abo-!" she cheered before she was cut off with a surprised squeak. Her jumping was enough to make her foot slip out from under her even with the shoe. She could not feel her fake foot entirely so each impact was just another chance to lose her balance.

Yang once again helped her to her feet carefully. "Glad to see you 'Rose' from the 'fall'. Huh, huh?" Yang joked. it caught everyone off guard for a moment.

"Was that a double pun?" Ruby asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anywhoo, as promised above, my fundamental truth about the work of being a Keyblade Wielder. I bring this up because it falls in with some of the reactions I have received since the release of last chapter. The wielders of keyblades are not actually there to solve all of a worlds problems. So far in the official Kingdom Hearts stories, we have only ever gone to worlds whose bad guys are specifically the type to get involved with the darker elements of the world. In this case, the Organization was simply trying to push the world's domino in the wrong direction. If you have ever read the Pendragon books, think of them like Saint Dane. So the fact that this world has not gone down a worse a route, means that the Keyblade wielder and his team were successful, in perhaps the hardest way to learn this lesson. Jeez.
> 
> See ya all next time. :)


	22. Signs of a Hero

Sora opened his eyes to a very familiar looking city in front of him. The pillars, the marble, statues, the symmetry, and the beautiful landscape around it. He was back in place that was super familiar to him. Looking back at his allies, he noticed something different about how this arrival occurred. All his friends were all still standing, no craters and no unconsciousness. To his surprise, both Yang and Ruby were standing among them. A new first it seemed.

"So, how is everyone?" Sora asked.

"Well, that was a thing," Yang commented looking around. "Can someone please explain what we just went through?"

"Join the club," Dante commented. "Imagine what going through things has been like for me."

Ruby squeaked. "D-D-D-Dante?" she asked. Yang looked over and her jaw fell. For them, the man in front of them was night and day different from the teenager they had been hanging out with. With one major surprise to Sora, Aqua, and Rise. A half faded scar across his face.

Yang growled at him a little, he looked away. "You are a literally 'silver' fox," she complimented him.

"Yeah, that is basically the same response I had," Rise explained.

Dante shrugged and said, "I am also more than two times older than you. Quit making this weird and just get the shock of it out now, yeah? I mean the closest one to me in age is Aqua at like 28."

"28?" Ruby asked. "Oh, the Dark World, time thingie."

"Probably, closer to 30," Yang commented. "She wasn't there for exactly 10 years."

"Where are we?" Rise asked trying to change the subject for Dante's sake. Aqua, now cat ear-less, had been extremely quiet the whole conversation. "Aqua, are you ok?"

Aqua walked forward towards a nearby building, her eyes focused on the world around her until she finally dropped down to her knees. "Olympus Coliseum," she said out loud. She jumped back up to her feet and took off in a direction.

"Aqua?" Sora asked. He ran after her. The rest of the group followed behind. The chase took them to a building that Sora was very familiar with, fully restored to it former glory. The twin statues of gold crossing blades over the door. A massive building housing an impressive arena, and encompassed by large walls. "Aqua? You really do recognize this place."

"I participated in a tournament here a long time ago," Aqua replied. "Hey, I know you said that you never met Zack, but what about Hercules? Did you ever know him?"

"Sora? Hey! How is my favorite junior hero?" a familiar voice called out.

"Herc!" Sora turned and ran over to him. "Also, I am a full hero now remember? But more importantly, do you remember Aqua?" Much to Herc's delight, Sora had not changed much. Herc smiled at him as he looked over to the person he was referring to. At this point in time, the rest of the party finally caught up. Herc's face lit up with recognition.

"Aqua? Whoa, it really is you! You look exactly the same as the last time I saw you," Hercules said, surprise and happiness filled his voice.

"Hercules, you look so grown-up," Aqua said genuinely. She walked over to him and gave him a hug. "How have you been?"

"Just keeping up on training and being the hero I'm supposed to be. Where have you been? You won the games and left," Herculese replied.

Aqua hesitated a moment and answered, "I had some things to take care of."

The two of them caught up as much as Aqua was willing to tell him. She could not explain some things to him, but he seemed to understand to a certain point. Meanwhile, she introduced him to her new friends, all of them seemed to take a liking to him.

"You're the son of a god?" Dante asked.

"Yeah, Zues is the leader of the Gods on Mount Olympus, he's my father specifically," Herc explained. Dante nodded, impressed someone had a more pretentious father than himself, but he could not help but like the guy anyway. Meanwhile, Rise and Yang were whispering to Aqua who was turning shades of pink with blush.

"Herc, could I ask you about someone I used to know here. Do you know where I can find Zack?" Aqua asked. Herc paused for a moment before he was ready to answer.

"I can show you, but-" Herc started, but before he could finish Rise interrupted.

"No buts… take us to him!" she declared.

Herc nodded and signalled for them all to follow. Aqua could not believe that this was how her first visit back to the Olympus Coliseum was going to go. She was being led by a full grown Hercules to a nearby hill overlooking the city of Thebes where the coliseum was housed to see a man who had asked her on a date over ten years prior. Looking back, she saw her allies all followed behind her with looks of support. When Hercules stopped, he stepped out from in front of Aqua and what she saw broke her heart. Hercules started to walk back further for her to have some space and the look of regret on his face made it clear to the others what he had needed to show her.

Aqua stepped forward slowly, toes just barely leaving the ground like the energy had been drained from her. She dropped to her knees in front of a familiar greatsword, rusted with age, covered in growing plant life. Rise could not bring herself to get any closer though she wanted to console Aqua in her time of need. Yang and Ruby had planned to move forward until they heard her first wail. Even Sora could not bring himself to move closer. To everyone else's surprise, Dante moved forward to the sword.

He took a small green object from his pocket. It was a small Vital Star, a crystal formulated by demons, that he had retrieved from within his coat and placed it on the ground next to the sword. Aqua continued to cry, even when Dante sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a half hug on the ground. No one dared to speak, as if the tiniest bit of sound would shatter the world more so than it already was in Aqua's eyes. Her wails would eventually calm to sobs, her shuddering body would eventually grow tired of the sobs as well.

"D-do," Aqua began quietly. "Do you think he ever got to be the hero he wanted to be?" Her question lingered in the air as she leaned into Dante's shoulder.

Dante paused a beat before he answered, "This blade was put here on purpose and it's been here for a very long time. Wouldn't surprise me if this was done in the memory of the hero he became, regardless of how long he got to be one. He realized the power he had, and he decided to give it purpose. The world just seems to resonate with that kind of resolve."

"Dante," Aqua began quietly. "Why do I have to keep losing everything?"

Dante was unable to answer for a few moments. He looked back at the people that had joined them and the message was clear. The four of them all backed up further. Both of their friends needed a moment alone. As they left, Dante finally answered, "Aqua, you were gone for over 10 years. Even if you couldn't feel every minute pass, they happened. Your body didn't age a day because you could not feel that time. 30 years of existence and only 18 of it felt the passage of time. I think... it's time that you begin finding new things, rather than hoping to take back the things that you lost or were forced to leave behind. We all have things that we'll never get back."

Aqua looked at him and saw the tears that were threatening to well up around the corners of his eyes. She had never seen him this emotional, even if he was holding it together well. "Dante?" she asked.

He looked down at her and answered, "Aqua, let's focus on the future."

Aqua looked at him and could see the history of loss behind his gaze. She thought back on her conversations with him on Remnant. His mother's death, his father's disappearance, and his brother's betrayal all weighed heavily on his heart. However, it never stopped him from looking forward and being the man next to her. Looking into those piercing blue eyes, she was searching for something that she was certain she would find if she could look long enough. He blinked and in that moment that his eyes opened, Aqua was certain she saw what she was looking for. Aqua leaned forward and in a move that surprised both of them, she kissed him. Dante tried to find the words but for perhaps the first time in his life he was completely dumbstruck.

"I'm sorry," she said, but the small smile on her face betrayed her. "But, if the future has you in it…"

Dante looked at her and her smile landed on him. He reached over and wiped the tears from her face. "Well, I guess we can see what happens. So for now, we'll call it 'our future.' If you'd like that?"

"And you tried to convince me you have terrible luck with women," Aqua teased as she rubbed the tears from her face and eyes. She stood up and walked over to the sword. "I am sorry I missed you, Zack. I wish I got to see you in your hay day. You may have been a work in progress when I met you, but you were filled with such promise. I will forever envy, those who got to see your light shine brightest."

A new voice interrupted her thoughts. "You picked some of the wrong people to envy," it said to her. She and Dante turned to see a man with spiky blond hair and a giant sword standing in a full black outfit. "I guess, I can't blame you for admiring someone like him though."

"Cloud!" Sora called out running up to the group.

"Sora?" Cloud asked aloud as he turned to face the young man who approached him. "So, have you found your light?"

Sora frowned for a moment. Rise, Ruby, and Yang all approached, watching this interaction unfold. Sora sighed and replied, "I'm working on it. What about you?"

Cloud turned towards the sword on the cliff. He walked over to it and placed his own sword on the ground next to it as he bowed his head next to it. "I am still looking, but I think I am on the way to finding a new light, step-by-step," Cloud explained.

"A new light?" Sora asked. He then looked at the sword and then back at Cloud. "When I met you, you were looking for Zack?"

Cloud nodded his head. "Zack was an incredible friend of mine. He looked up to Sephiroth as a hero. But when Sephiroth had begun to embody darkness, people like Zack stood in his way to letting himself become the darkness he pursued. He became the embodiment of my own darkness. Since Zack has been gone, I've had to find a new light. I think that I may know who it is, but I need to be able to look at them long enough without averting my eyes."

As Cloud spoke, Sora could see Riku and Kairi in his mind. The darkness of Riku and the light of Kairi. However, as Cloud spoke of finding a new light Kairi fell out of focus and eventually disappeared entirely from the picture. Sora finally understood what it was that Cloud had been looking for back then. If Light, Darkness, and Nothing were all eternal parts of the world as they all knew it, then they would create a pattern.

Zack was the light, Sephiroth was the darkness, and that meant that Cloud was the nothing that existed in between. If Kairi was the light and Riku was the darkness, then Sora was the nothing between them. With Kairi gone, Sora and Riku were left without a light to balance them. Which in turn was why when she was gone, they both embodied and exaggerated their roles to fill in the space. Riku turned to the darkness to search for power. Sora had tried to turn off his emotions to push through and ignore the things that had been tearing him up inside. He would need to ask Aqua about it sometime.

"Cloud," Sora finally said out loud. "I think I just realized what it was you were asking me back then. I think I have had my light for a long time. But I've lost it now. There is no longer a light to keep sight of for me."

Cloud reached out and put his hand on Sora's shoulder. "I know you don't believe that, Sora. Even if you have lost a light in your life. I think the people you surround yourself with are not by accident, right? Maybe the light you have grown accustomed to is now gone. But, you have other sources of it around you all the time." Cloud turned Sora around to look at his allies. "You just have to look in the right direction."

"You got that right! Burning bright over here," Yang claimed with an exaggerated flex.

Ruby smiled and nodded saying, "We're all here for you, Sora."

Rise bounced playfully and added, "Always." With his point made, Cloud turned back to Zack's sword and he left a single flower next to it. After that, he started to walk away.

"Cloud, where are you going now?" Sora called out.

Cloud turned his head slightly but never looked back and replied, "Searching for the light. I have to keep looking to the future. You do the same, Sora. When we both have it figured out, we'll meet again."

Sora nodded as Cloud continued to walk away. "He's starting to be an optimist," Sora joked to himself. He looked back at his allies. They all looked at each other in the light of what was just said to them and a moment of clarity washed over all of them as they just enjoyed each other's company. It was rare for this group to have moments to just be there. So now that it was here, they cherished it.

"So what are the fights here like?" Ruby asked.

Aqua crossed her arms and rested her chin in her hand saying, "They could be pretty intense. Each fight was a massive ordeal when you fight as a solo fighter. Massive waves of enemies sometimes, or just really powerful individuals. People like Zack. Our fight was intense, though at the time his inexperience was pretty clear."

Sora nodded and added, "It doesn't get much easier for me. I once had to fight Cloud and three of his allies all at once. By myself."

This brought him eyes larger than he had ever seen as Ruby seemed to float off the ground hearing this. "Why haven't I heard about this?" She asked loudly. "That sounds so cool! How did you do it? What were their weapons like? Can I see your keyblade?" Ruby asked all in rapidfire.

Sora realized that she and Yang were the only ones here who had not seen the keyblade up close before. So he summoned the Kingdom Key. Ruby dashed forward in a storm of petals and grabbed the weapon from his hand with excited hands. Yang snatched it from her at some point. While the two of them continued to look at the weapon, Sora walked back over to Herc.

"Hey, Herc, do you know if Auron is still out and about in the Underworld?" Sora asked.

Hercules shook his head. "No, he seems to be gone. Meg said she saw him vanish into little lights that flew away some time after the last time you left," he explained. "When I tried to ask the Gods on Olympus about it, I received an answer, I didn't quite understand. Something about how he went back to the place and time he belonged."

"I see," Sora commented out loud. Hercules seemed to remember that he was needing to do something, Sora bid him farewell and he was left with information to dwell on. Aqua noticed his confusion so she walked over to him.

"Sora, smoke's coming out of your ears," she said gently.

Sora looked at her and said, "I am just trying to figure something out."

Dante walked over and asked, "What's bugging him?"

"So, Herc just told me that someone I met here was not from around here. That the Gods on Mt. Olympus told him that Auron came from another place and time," Sora commented out loud. "How does that work?"

"Maybe," Aqua thought out loud, "there are things that we don't understand about how the world works."

Dante asked, "Well if there is Light and Darkness and Nothing. Then would Time also be a Realm?"

"What's going on?" Ruby asked as she leaned towards Yang.

Yang shook her head and shrugged, saying, "Maybe they are sick and talking crazy?". They both looked at Rise who also shrugged.

Aqua looked at Sora and asked, "Do you know the story of the first world?"

"The old fairy tale Kairi's Grandmother told her?" Sora asked.

Aqua nodded. The rest of the group, however, seemed to be very interested in the story. She looked to the others and said, "Right, you all likely would have never heard this story. Long ago, in the age of Fairy Tales, there was one world. A world created by Kingdom Hearts and protected by a weapon known as the X-Blade. Eventually, the people of the world coveted the power of Kingdom Hearts and wanted it for their own. This desire created the darkness. Eventually, the people fought over the light and this was believed to be the first Keyblade War. The darkness began to consume everything. However, the light prevailed in the hearts of children. Light spread out and created the many worlds that exist. To try to protect the worlds from turning on themselves, the worlds have barriers that separate them. This was called the balance of separation. However, the Heartless found ways to traverse between them and destroyed the barriers between. So the keybearers had to take on the mantle of protectors."

"Wow!" Ruby said happily. "That is so cool!"

Rise nodded. Yang asked, "How do people become keybearers?"

"A strong heart, and usually a Rite of Succession or a bequeathing ceremony from a Keyblade Master," Aqua explained.

"Like you?" Sora asked, clarifying to the others just who she was in context. The look on Ruby's face made Aqua blush.

Dante looked at Aqua and said, "I think I remember someone referring to you as Master. So when they called you master, what does that even mean?"

"I took and passed a Mark of Mastery test. It is a test of the strength of the heart. I was put up against one of my closest friends in our test," Aqua explained.

"Back to the confusing talk from before," Yang started. "What did the story from before have to do with the complicated stuff?"

"Right," Aqua said, realizing that they had gotten off topic. "If we can draw an origin of Light and Darkness from the Age of Fairy Tales, then other things could have originated from then as well. Time and Nothingness should both be tied to back then as well."

"If time is its own separate thing, then that might be why time doesn't flow within the Realm of Darkness," Rise added.

"Oh no, its spreading," Ruby commented deadpanned as another person was now in on the conversation.

Dante seemed to have an idea. "So if time is its own separate construct, then that could help explain what was happening to my world. A different version of my world from another time was over writing my own. If this guy comes from another time," he said pointing at himself, "then maybe he comes from a world in another time as well," Dante suggested.

"So, just to make sure we are all on the same page," Yang started, "when we are referring to Time or 'another time,' we are referring to the existence of things that exists in places outside of the present?"

"Yes," Aqua said with a smile and a nod.

Ruby then said, "Ok, caught up now." That was when the group felt a familiar sensation.

"Are we about to jump again?" Dante asked.

Sora nodded. "Looks like this was a fast trip. But we haven't done anything here," he remarked.

"Unless figuring this out was why," Aqua remarked. "If the keyblade is doing what we have been talking about which is taking us places it needs to go in order to get you ready for what is to come, then us being here and figuring this out has to be somewhat important, right?"

"Here we go again," Rise commented.

* * *

' _What can I do for you?'_

The music swelled and Yuna was forced to listen through the walls of the Luca Stadium, dressed in a Moogle Mascot suit. She slightly lifted the head piece to get some air flow to her head before she melted. She just needed her allies to do the thing that needed to be done before things got any worse in this suit.

"Umm, Yunie? We have a problem," a familiar voice said over her earpiece.

"Rikku? What's going on?" Yuna asked.

"Umm," Rikku started, "Well, how do I explain this…"

Another voice interrupted, "Third party intrusion." That voice belonged to Paine.

"Oh," Yuna said. "Well what do we do now?"

"Well for one, the Leblanc Goons are trying to deal with them," Rikku said. "We can use this moment to chase her out of the arena, but after that we have no control over them."

Yuna hummed and said, "That sounds like our only option. Make it fast, I'm going to overheat if we don't solve this soon."

"We're on it," Paine said. "Be ready."

"Yes, ma'am," Yuna replied. So she waited a bit longer. After a few more moments, she found herself in a strange predicament. A red blur fell from the building above her and broke boxes nearby. She gasped and ran over to the now stirring pile of splintered wood and red clothes.

Taking off the mascot head, Yuna asked, "Are you ok?" As the dust cleared, she was shocked by the sight of the person before her. "Sir?"

The figure stopped stirring for a moment. "Sir? Lady, I don't know who you think you're talking to, but 'sir' really doesn't apply," replied the man in the boxes. She offered him her hand, He took it and she finally got her first good look at him. Silver-white hair, framing a grizzled face with a notable single scar across it, which was a striking color in comparison to the red, cloth open robe he wore. It reminded her a lot of the same robe that Sir Auron had worn back when she was summoner. Suddenly, she realized that he seemed surprised to see her. "Weren't you just on stage like one minute ago?" he asked.

"Uh," Yuna started realizing that she was not sure how to respond to that. "That wasn't me. My name is Yuna but um... I can explain later, but… I need to get going!" Yuna said as she began running. Running around the corner, she caught sight of her two friends chasing after a figure that looked like her. She needed to catch up, so she quickly took off the rest of the mascot suit and took off down the passageway after her allies. More comfortable in her halter-top style top and a long half skirt, she was able to run free of the suit.

When she finally caught up to the group, she saw her allies fighting two men. A fat man with a giant shield in a purple padded robe and a lanky man in a blue robe with twin revolvers. Drawing her guns from their holsters, she shot a series of shots at their feet making them dance. Finally, she leapt over the top of them, more bullets sent flying as she flipped through the air. The three girls were ready to fight, but then the imposter showed up alongside a figure in a black coat.

"That's quite enough sniveling boys," the imposter said snidely. "Persistent aren't you?"

"My grid," Yuna demanded.

Rikku, a blonde haired with loose braids, beads and a blue bandana partnered with a bikini under a skirt, yellow scarf, and detached sleeves, added, "You give us back Yunie's Garment Grid, right now."

The imposter suddenly gasped and said, "Didn't you girls ever learn to share?"

Yuna was outraged and finally just firmly demanded again, "Give. It. Back!"

A sigh of faux-defeat, the imposter replied, "Very well, it's yours." The Garment Grid was tossed through the air and Yuna caught it, glad to have it back in the proper hands. As the imposter was beginning to glow and return back to her normal form, Yuna noticed the man from before making his way over with a certain stiffness in his back as he walked. His attention was suddenly focused on the situation and his eyes made contact with hers.

As the imposter finished transforming, she was revealed to be a purple-eyed, blonde woman, in an open robe with straps, holes, and massive cuffs. It was tacky, in only the way a diva could be. "But it won't be for long loves!" Meanwhile, Yuna's clothes changed to the outfit that the imposter had been wearing before, as she danced about ready for combat.

"'Scuse me," the man in red said. Everyone's attention turned to him. "Please tell me you're wearing that because you lost a bet," he said to the would-be thief. Her moment of abject shock was enough to earn a chuckle from Paine. the young woman with red eyes and short, silver hair. She wore a black leather ensemble complete with high-heeled boots, elbow-length gloves, a folded top and topped with barbed wire chain with a silver pendant. The chuckle earned her a look from her two allies who had never thought that it was a noise that could come from their companion.

"Yunie," Rikku said quietly. "That is one of the intruders from inside. I think I saw him go flying out of a window just before we chased these ones out of the stadium."

Meanwhile the person in the dark coat pulled back their hood to reveal a man with orange hair and eyeliner. From behind his back, he produced a bowler hat and a cane. "Well, I can see that this has fallen out of our favor, Leblanc. Let us make a strategic retreat and let these fools deal with themselves," the man said. Leblanc looked back at him and nodded. A massive puff of smoke later, they found the people gone.

"Bad sense of clothes and taste in men. And here I thought I had bad karma," the newcomer commented.

"Sorry for leaving you behind before," Yuna apologized as she continued to dance. She looked down at herself and felt herself continue without stop. "Is-is it true that you were knocked out-out a window?" she asked as her body continued.

Rikku and Paine watched her dance uncontrollably, the newcomer raised an eyebrow and asked, "Do you- does she always dance when she talks to people?"

"First time," Paine said quickly. Her eyes were glued to the newcomer.

Dante nodded and finally after an awkward moment said, "So, if that's all that is happening over here, I think I am just going to head back to my allies." He began to turn to leave

"Wait," Paine commanded firmly. Dante slouched over defeated and faced back in her direction. Paine raised her blade up in a battle ready stance, "How did you interrupt our mission here?"

"About that," Dante said carefully. "We kinda ended up there on accident."

Paine's eyes narrowed, "Unfortunate. Now how does one sneak into a building on accident?"

"Sneak?" He asked. "I think you are giving me and my friends too much credit, lady."

"I guess so," Paine said still blade drawn.

Dante sighed. "We're gonna fight now aren't we?" he asked. Paine nodded. Dante drew his sword and then popped his back. "Alright, bring it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: So this is perhaps both the most and the least Kingdom Hearts-y chapter I have ever written. Emotions, check. Complicated ideas and concepts, check. Extremely serious writing on the topic of Aqua, check. A double world transfer? Check.
> 
> So you know how before I had talked about how I was going to have Yuna be a member of the group by the time we got to Remnant before I removed her because of complications of KHII? I solved it. Time and Space in separate universes uniting when met by a common variable. I think that this is the best way to go about it since we know Time Shenanigans exist now.
> 
> Also the other thing to acknowledge. A ship happened. I didn't even initially mean for it to happen. But I have always found that romance in the light of tragedy to be something that goes hand in hand with my writing and I don't know why. However, a potential elephant in the room. Aqua is approximately 30 so there nothing wrong with this pairing on that front, alright? That being all being said, I hope you are looking forward to a chaotic and canon-shattering story on Spira.


End file.
